More often than not, we come across products inscribed with 바카라˜Made in China바카라™ labels. However, not many of us would be aware of the exact location in China where most of these products originate. That honour belongs to Yiwu, a city in the Central Zhejiang Province of East China.Â
Yiwu Market, or Yiwu International Trade City, is the world바카라™s largest wholesale market바카라”one that specialises in small and cheap goods. According to media reports, it accounts for and well over that are exported from here. Not without reason is it referred to as the 바카라˜Christmas Village바카라™ or 바카라˜Commodity City바카라™.
With and five districts, the Yiwu Market is a one-stop destination for every conceivable kind of article. Trinkets, birthday candles, wall clocks, LED and decorative lights, pencils, pens, glass souvenirs, buckets, spades, umbrellas, flower wreaths and decorations, children바카라™s toys바카라”you name it! Before the aberration of the pandemic, there was an estimated footfall of , attracted, no doubt, by the cheap and diverse fare on offer. And according to some estimates, in the pre-pandemic era, used to sell 4,00,000 different kinds of products. Little wonder then that it is almost impossible to explore the whole market in the course of a single day.
The Origin
Today, Yiwu is a gigantic amalgamation of malls, wholesale stores and endless shopping spaces. But, you would be surprised to know that this wasn바카라™t always the case. Trade has been an integral part of the Yiwu countryside, but due to the presence of barren land, for centuries, people bartered candies and sugar for chicken feathers.
Things changed in September 1982, when the administration set up in Yiwu. Originally having only a few hundred stalls and shops, it was a momentous and courageous decision, especially since it was one of the first free markets in a communist country. The market바카라™s popularity grew by leaps and bounds in the next decades, transforming Yiwu from a backward, impoverished, rural outpost to a thriving, modern city.
And, what a transformation it has been! Even with a rampaging pandemic, 바카라”a staggering 68 million trees바카라”came from China, a significant number of them from Yiwu. It achieved this feat despite reports stating that operational costs at Yiwu Market had risen by 20%바카라“30% and exports and sales had . Even the latest stringent epidemic control measures have failed to stop the juggernaut. Life and commerce rolls on, relentlessly, in Yiwu바카라”and you may even argue that, pandemic or no pandemic, it is always Christmas in Yiwu Market.
