From Market Stalls to Street Eats: A Foreigner’s Yiwu Journey
Imagine a city where 2.1 million types of goods collide with aromatic street food, where international traders haggle over LED lights by day and swap dumpling recipes by night 🌃. Welcome to Yiwu – Zhejiang Province’s hidden gem that’s become ground zero for global commerce and cultural fusion.
Venezuelan vlogger Rafael Saavedra recently traded spreadsheets for spring rolls, documenting why over 15,000 foreign businesspeople call this ‘China’s supermarket to the world’ home. His camera captures:
🗺️ The dizzying scale of Yiwu International Trade Market (think 7.5 million sq.m of everything from party poppers to solar panels)
🥟 Midnight snack runs where Syrian spice merchants debate the best baozi fillings
🚀 A 560 billion yuan ($78.8B) import/export ecosystem that keeps TikTok shop owners worldwide in stock
But it’s not all business – Saavedra’s clips show moonlight tai chi sessions by Meihu Exhibition Center and Arabic-Chinese karaoke battles in thriving expat neighborhoods. As one Yemeni textile trader told him: ‘Here, every handshake could launch a startup – but first, let’s get tea!’
