Yiwu: A new Silk Road linking traders

Yiwu: A new Silk Road linking traders

Source: www.AmandaIEC.com Yiwu Export Agent.

Yiwu, is famous in the world for its biggest small commodity markets and tremendous goods. Everything you can find in yiwu market: Arts & Crafts, Jewelry & accessories, Toys & dolls, Clocks & Watches, Household Utensils, Kitchenware, Stationery, Cosmetics, Hardware, Electric & Electronic, Socks, Garment & Accessories, Leather Goods, Luggage, Bags & Cases, Shoes, etc.

With the influx of Middle Eastern money, Yiwu, a city of 2 million people in Zhejiang province, has been slowly transformed in recent years to become a major trading hub between China and the Middle East, a new Silk Road linking their economies.

Tens of thousands of Middle Eastern traders and businessmen crowd the eastern city of Yiwu every year to source cheap products to sell in their home markets, transforming this small eastern corner of China into a buzzing trading post.

Every Friday, the main mosque here offers a glimpse of how well the business is doing here. There are buyers from Lebanon, traders from Yemen, businessmen from Egypt, all gathering for their weekly prayers.

Many of them have come straight from the wholesale markets across the city and will very often return straight to business after their religious duties.

Palestinian businessman Hazem Shyoukhi, 30, was one of the first people to make the long trek to Yiwu in 2000.

Back then, the city was just starting out to position itself as a hub for trading small commodities in the country.

Looking at makeshift stalls selling everything from toothbrushes to belts at a local wholesale market, Hazem has fond memories of the beginnings of his career.

"From 2000, Yiwu was like a small village. Now it is a big city, with a lot of foreigners, a lot of Muslim people. Because of business here, everything has changed," he says.

With the arrival of Middle Eastern traders and money, Yiwu slowly branched out to become a hub for selling made-in-China Arabic products, such as fashion apparel and religious artifacts.

The city has not looked back since. Many of the traders like Hazem have set up shop here, offering trading services for Middle Eastern buyers looking for cheap and good Chinese products.

The traders are usually young Middle Eastern men who have ventured here first as buyers, sourcing for a steady supply of daily household products that have simply become inaccessible in some of the conflict zones in the Middle East.