Lably
Skip to content

Yiwu

City in Zhejiang, China

  • 7 min read
  • 9 chapters
201706 Overview of Yiwu International Trade City
MNXANL · CC BY-SA 4.0

Related on Lably

Through China and World Trade Organization

LabGlobalisation and the Indian Economy

History

Yiwu was originally established as Wushang City (乌商) in 222 BC during the Qin dynasty. It was renamed Yiwu County in AD 624 under the Tang dynasty. Due to its poor soil and mountainous terrain, Yiwu residents historically relied on trade rather than agriculture.

A long-standing local tradition was the "sugar-for-chicken feathers" barter system (鸡毛换糖), where peddlers exchanged sugar and small goods for chicken feathers used in fertilizer or dusters. Early forms of itinerant and local trading date back to the 16th century, with proto-market activities appearing by the 1700s.

After 1949, private trade was suppressed under the planned economy. Despite restrictions, Yiwu traders continued informally until market reforms began under Deng Xiaoping in 1978. In 1982, the Yiwu government formalized its local market by constructing permanent stalls over a drainage ditch near Huqingmen Street. This became the foundation of what would later be known as the Yiwu International Trade City (义乌国际商贸城), also referred to as the Futian Market.

In 1988, Yiwu was upgraded to a county-level city. Local officials, led by Party Secretary Xie Gaohua, issued trading permits and implemented simplified tax policies, defying national prohibitions at the time.

By the early 1990s, Yiwu had become a national exemplar of bottom-up marketization. In 1992, the central government renamed the city's central wholesale hub to "China Small Commodities City". It was later managed by the state-controlled China Commodities City Group, which oversaw expansions such as zoning goods by category and increasing booth capacity, facilitating global trade.

Yiwu's exports surged after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. In 2011, it was designated as a national-level international trade pilot city, with streamlined customs procedures and a unified export tax code specifically for small commodities.

The city further modernized by integrating e-commerce into its traditional market model. Although slow to adopt online sales initially, by 2015, online trading rivaled physical market transactions. Yiwu also became a key node in China's Belt and Road Initiative, with rail freight links to Europe and Central Asia, including the Yiwu-Madrid and Yiwu-London railways.

Sign in to keep reading

8 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Cities

Washington, D.C.Capital city of the United StatesBerlinCapital and largest city of GermanyChicagoMost populous city in Illinois, USViennaCapital and largest city of AustriaPhiladelphiaMost populous city in Pennsylvania, USBostonCapital and largest city in Massachusetts, United States
Source and licence. Adapted from the Wikipedia article “Yiwu” (this version, 2026-09-21) by its contributors, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Lablypedia has left out its tables, references and most pictures, and linked it to other Lablypedia articles.