AmandaIEC reports: 200, 000 foreigners love Yiwu

AmandaIEC reports: 200, 000 foreigners love Yiwu

Presently, there are more than 3000 Korean traders in Yiwu. After his visit to Yiwu in 2006, Kim Yaung, Korean consul in Shanghai, said, “Yiwu is the city that attracts the more Koreans than any other city in China”. Manuj, who comes from India, talks about his impression of Yiwu affectionately:”Yiwu people are very kind and warm, and they are far from exclusive. Before I came to China, I had been to a lot of countries, where if you walk among the local people, they may look at you with strange eyes and precaution, that’s a kind of exclusion. But in Yiwu, you needn’t worry about this, because we’re all friends.” To make foreigners better suit the living environment in Yiwu, Yiwu municipal government has established an “Exotic Street” elaborately in the area where foreigners are relatively concentrated. There are tens of different restaurants with exotic flavor on both sides of the street: French dishes, Japanese cuisine, Brazilian roast, American steak, Indian food, Russian food and Arabic food, you name it. Their decorations are different and their foods are full of distinctive features.

When night fell, neon lights went in and out on the “Exotic Street“, the cafes and bars here became busy scenes of hustle and bustle. Walking on the street, you could see people with different colors of skin sitting and chatting together through the bright shop windows. The music and laughter flew out and lingered in the air.

Since 2007, Yiwu Public Security Bureau began to manage foreigners in a more practical way. By making some fundamental surveys on foreigners, they got first-hand data about foreigners in Yiwu.

Meanwhile, Yiwu Public Security Bureau provided training courses for hotel attendants on foreign-related service. The Division of Exit & Entry Administration of Yiwu Public Security Bureau also entertained foreigners by offering them midday service, extra-service in the afternoon, reminding service on expired visa and stay permit and 24-hour translation service.

And the Division of Exit & Entry Administration of Yiwu Public Security Bureau spent 100 thousand Yuan on distributing Chinese-English law booklets for foreigners to be informed about Chinese laws. Some of them even worked as plungers of Chinese laws.