Yiwu International Trade City

Yiwu is not an especially large or internationally well-known city, however it plays an outsized role in global trade. That is because it is a key center for the wholesale trade and export of goods manufactured in China. Railroads stretch from here to as far as Spain and thousands of foreign traders have made this city their home, making the city uniquely multicultural by Chinese standards.

At the heart of it all is the giant Yiwu International Trade City, which covers 4 million square meters and contains 75,000 booths selling 400,000 unique products. It is the largest small commodities market in the world, selling $70 billion worth of goods in 2022. Unlike a normal shopping mall, the vendors here specialize in selling goods wholesale that are later resold abroad. Business here is done largely by agents acting on behalf of foreign customers, however anyone is free to browse the days' worth of stalls.

How exactly did what was once a poor backwater become a global center in wholesaling, one might ask? Back in 1982, the city was one of the first in China to allow free market trade. What originally started as a few hundred stalls quickly proved to be extremely popular in a China still opening up to commerce. This success was amplified by the country later joining the World Trade Organization in 2001. The current colossal market building was built in stages between 2001 and 2011.