Yiwu义乌

In the late 1970s, Yiwu farmers walked door to door trading sugar for chicken feathers — a peddler's hustle that grew into the Yiwu International Trade City (China Commodity City): over 6.4 million square meters of floor space, 75,000 stalls, more than 220,000 visitors a day, over 2 million kinds of goods, and trade links with 230-plus countries and regions. International bodies have called it the world's largest wholesale market for small commodities. This isn't a sight built for tourists — it's a living trade city. About 18,000 foreign traders live here year-round, with 366,900 foreign visits recorded in 2023 alone, and buyers and shopkeepers from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and South Asia have grown an entire "exotic street" of their own. Most people treat Yiwu as a place to source goods. Spend two or three days here instead, and you'll see globalization at its most grassroots and concrete.

Culture

The world's supermarket, grown out of a peddler's trade

• The "chicken feathers for sugar" peddler trade of the late 1970s is where Yiwu's commercial story begins
• China Commodity City spans over 6.4 million sqm and 75,000 stalls, consistently topping national rankings for specialized markets
• Over 2 million kinds of goods change hands here, traded with 230-plus countries and regions
• The Yiwu–Madrid freight rail line, among the world's longest cargo railways, starts its eastern end right here

The multicultural trader community

A "mini United Nations" around Binwang Night Market

• Around 18,000 foreign traders live here year-round, with 366,900 foreign visits in 2023 — mostly from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and South Asia
• Arabic signage and halal restaurants cluster densely around the exotic street and Binwang Night Market — a rare multicultural trading community for inland China
• A Jordanian-run Arab restaurant here employs over a hundred staff, many from Belt and Road partner countries
• For business or sourcing travelers, the level of internationalization and convenience here is unusually high for a city this size

Food & Flavor

One night market, half the world on a plate

• Donghe meat pastry, Fotang tofu-skin noodles and brown-sugar twists make up the local snack trio
• Around Binwang Night Market and Santing Road, you can eat Turkish kebab, Middle Eastern pastries, Afghan, Syrian and Caucasus dishes, even Indian roti
• The saying goes "Jinhua ham actually comes from Yiwu" — the local ham products carry real weight too
• Traditional sweets like Nianshanli candy hide in century-old shops tucked into the old streets