Source: Yiwu sourcing agent Author: Date: 2009-01-05
Searching for Yiwu with a magnifier F rancisco,an Italian businessman whose business extends to European countries like Germany,Italy,France,Spain,Portugal, mainly deals in light industry products and daily-used commodities . Although Francisco started to sell products from Yiwu 10 years ago,he bought them from traders of South Korea, China Taiwan and Hong Kong. Once,he found a batch of products with polished craftsmanship but inexpensive and was eager to get the address of the producer . He required to visit the manufacturer for so many times that the trader promised to bring him to Yiwu .
Some time later,Francisco came to Shanghai with the trader . However,the trader left Francisco in Shanghai and went to Yiwu by himself,which annoyed Francisco quite a lot .
He was determined to spare no effort to find the location of Yiwu . Unfortunately,what he knew about Yiwu then is only the Pinyin of the city name.
As he decided to find Yiwu , Francisco drew a circle with Shanghai as the center on a map and finally found Yiwu under a magnifier .
Hiring an overseas Chinese student as an interpreter ,he came to Shanghai again and Yiwu at last .
With its special position in the trade o f small commodities ,Yiwu strides to internationalization and has become the largest wholesale market of small commodities,a well-known city in China even in the world .
2,079 representative offices of foreign enterprises set up in Yiwu In 1989,there were only 27 overseas people coming to Yiwu . In 2000,the number rose to 3,797,and in 2003 it reached 41,471 .
The foreigners mainly came from South Korea, Japan, Pakistan, India, U.S.,Malaysia, Afghanistan,Yemen and Jordan . The year of 2005 saw 62,151 foreigners coming to Yiwu.
Manuli,an Indian young man,29 years old,is one of the earliest businessmen to make fortune in Yiwu,who came here in February of 1992 . At f i r s t ,he worked for a Dubai company,in charge of purchasing from Yiwu .
Several years later,he built his own network of customers,and then set up his own ornament company. Now,his business is prospering .
After years of contact with Yiwu people, now this young man can not only speak mandarin fluently,but also understand most of the words in Yiwu dialect .Every Sunday,his Indian fellowmen and he will hold a party,dining, singing,dancing and enjoying the life .
According to the municipal administration for industry and commerce,by December 15,2008, there had been 2,079 representative offices of foreign enterprises in Yiwu,and in the single year of 2008, the number of newly-established offices is 584. Besides,the foreign-invested enterprises in Yiwu had also reached 570.
“We are new Yiwu people .” In Yiwu conspicuous posters could always be found in four languages：Chinese,English, Korean and Arabic . Foreigners of different colors are busy purchasing or bargaining by body languages at the international trade mart .
A t t r a c t e d by the sound market , Abdullah ,a young Yemen businessman coming for purchasing originally ,finally lived in Yiwu .
In 2003 he set up an international trade company and had dozens of clients in less than two years and it is able to deliver over 30 containers to the Middle East in a month . He said that the commodities seize great shares in the Middle East markets . The abundant commodities and the generous profits in return made him fall in love with Yiwu . So in 2006 he brought his wife and son to live in Yiwu.
A couple from Jordan has been in Yiwu for 8 years . They rented a house in Jimingshan Residential Quarter .The landlords are called grandpa and grandma by the couple . And usually landlords help air a quilt for the couple and the couple clean the dustbin for the landlord . The landlord said：“we don’t regard the Jordan couple as foreigners . We are good neighbors .”
Nowadays the commodities of Yiwu market have been exported to 215 countries and regions all over the world and the export-orientation has reached over 60% .Over10,000 foreign businessmen from over 100 countries and regions live permanently in Yiwu to purchase and more than 280 foreign children from 16 countries and regions study in Yiwu. Over 150 foreign university students studied in Yiwu Industrial & Commercial College .
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