The Zhejiang city of Wenzhou has been having a bad run in the media lately, both domestic and international. ‘Wenzhou has the reputation in China of having been first and most successful out the gate when economic liberalization began thirty years ago, and of having the most millionaires per capita of any city in China that makes cheap stuff like plastic cigarette lighters, of which the city has some 80-percent of the world market sewn up, or some such. It’s fortune seems to be waning, however.

Most recently, a Jiangxi-born businessman based in Wenzhou jilted his workers of their wages, selling the factory’s equipment one evening and escaping with his girlfriend to his hometown in Jiangxi. It’s unclear whether his girlfriend was also from Jiangxi. The workers called the cops, who quickly caught up with him, according to the China Daily. As early as the end of the summer, according to the Wall Street Journal, Wenzhou companies were suffering from a dearth of lending from the national banks as Beijing continued to tighten lending to curb inflation in the country. Dozens of businesses have been closing, ever since. The problem has only been exacerbated as material inputs have increased, salary pressures have been eating away at profit margins and buyers in the West are unable to buy more stuff because of the global economic slowdown. Wenzhou has been fertile ground for a vast shadow banking system that profits from illegal loans to local businessmen, according to the Financial Times. Some Wenzhounese, though, tried to cheat their way through the bad times, but recently found out crime doesn’t pay.

Sixteen Wenzhou executives, ten local government officials and eleven others were found guilty last week “for graft, embezzlement, illegal distribution of State assets and bribery”, according to another China Daily report:

Ying Guoquan, a founder and former president of Wenzhou Cailanzi Group, was allegedly involved in graft, embezzlement, illegal distribution of State-owned assets and bribery, involving more than 400 million yuan ($63 million). Wenzhou Cailanzi Group is the largest enterprise for food production and processing in the city, supplying 98 percent of the vegetables, 80 percent of the soybean products and 60 percent of the seafood, according to the group’s official website.

The most remarkable aspect of the case, according to the China Daily article, was that, “The corruption case at Wenzhou Cailanzi Group was the most serious of its kind in the city in the past two years, according to Xinhua News Agency.”

Just goes to show, two years in China can feel like forever.