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History
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Wenzhou was once
a famous town of the Eastern Ou (the eastern part of the Oujiang River Valley) and
thus has a brilliant cultu-
ral history. In 192 BC it was the capital of the Kingdom of the Eastern Ou and in
AD 323 it became Yongjia Prefecture. It was al-
so called the City of White Deer, for, as legend has it, a white deer passed around
it holding a flower in its mouth when the city was being built. In AD 675 it began
to be known as Wenzhou. Historically, Wenzhou has been a city renowned for its handicrafts
and also as one of the birthplaces of celadon. Wenzhou’s papermaking, shipbuilding,
silk, embroidery, lacquer ware, as well as its shoes and leather products have achieved
a fairly eminent position in the history of China. During the period of the Southern
So-
ng Dynasty, it was opened as a foreign trade port, enjoying a high reputation as
a prosperous coastal city comparable to Hangzh-
ou.
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