Cafes in Li'ao are infused with local flavor.

Instead of muffins and cheese cakes, they offer sunflower seeds to go with their coffee.

With a cup of 15-yuan ($2.40) coffee accompanied by a dish of sunflower seeds and dried beef, I joined other customers at a cafe just like those at traditional Chinese teahouses.

Although the cafes were well-decorated, the buildings around them reminded me that I was in a typical Chinese small town still undergoing development.

It also reminded me of my first visit to Wenzhou to report the World Wenzhou Entrepreneurs Convention in 2012. Then, I was astonished that this city, home to 2.45 million entrepreneurs, would seem so underdeveloped.

Although luxury cars were easy to spot on the streets of downtown Wenzhou, its infrastructure was poor.

The outside walls of most buildings looked gray and dirty, with little greenery around. Most of the streets were narrow and crowded, and the public buses were in poor condition.

Even the development of some counties in Zhejiang province seemed better than Wenzhou's.

The economic figures also reflected the city's overall development. In 2012, the growth rate of Wenzhou's GDP ranked 11 among all 11 cities in Zhejiang. By the end of this June, housing prices in the city had been dropping for 34 consecutive months.

But during that convention, municipal government officials' push for the return of Wenzhou entrepreneurs was also put forward for the first time.

Wenzhou people are known for their talent, diligence and courage in business.

By the end of 2013, more than 586,000 Wenzhou people had businesses in 131 countries and regions around the world.

Zhou Dewen, chairman of the Wenzhou Small-and Medium-Enterprises Promotion Association, said that it was the opportunity these entrepreneurs had been waiting for.

"Many overseas entrepreneurs have long been keen to invest in the Chinese market, but they were not sure whether the government welcomed their investment. I can say that the depressed economy offered the best opportunity for Wenzhou entrepreneurs to come back and invest in the city," he said.

With China becoming the second-largest economy, investing in the domestic market will also be more promising than in the European market, Zhou said.

Savvy Wenzhou entrepreneurs apparently agree with Zhou.

From the beginning of 2013 to the end of the first half of this year, Wenzhou received 454 new investment projects by overseas Wenzhou entrepreneurs, with the total amount of investment at 43.4 billion yuan, official figures showed.

It will still be ideal for overseas Wenzhou entrepreneurs to return and invest three to five years from now, Zhou said.

"No matter how developed the European countries are, China is their motherland, after all," he said. "As open as the Western cultures are, it is still difficult for Chinese to find a sense of belonging there."

Contact the writer at yanyiqi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/18/2014 page5)