Yiwu Information

Yiwu City (simplified Chinese: 义乌; pinyin: yìwū) is a city of a population about 1,000,000 people in central Zhejiang Province in the Peoples Republic of China. It is 100 km away from the south of Hangzhou City, the capital of Zhejiang Province. The nearest city to Yiwu is Dongyang. The area, just like most cities of Zhejiang Province, is in a mountainous region. Technically, Yiwu is a part of the greater Municipal region of Jinhua, although it has a distinct urban centre. Under its jurisdiction, there are 15 towns and 8 villages, which cover 1102.8 square kilometers, 15 square kilometers of which are urban area of 650,000 people (2005 estimate). 

Yiwu is famous in China as a commodities center. People from all over the world come to Yiwu City to buy commodities for resale to other parts of China or abroad. Yiwu, as a Small-Commodity Market of China,  has topped to be one of 100 top open markets in China for 6 consecutive years and the civilized open market for successive years. It has been named as the banner of Chinese market economy. Because the commodities in Yiwu are of  a large variety of quality but cheaper price, the market has become a shopping paradise for tourists.

Yiwu has an stadium of Olympic quality and a large Christian Church. Many events associated with trade take place in Yiwu City. Yiwu also has a sizable Korean and Middle Eastern population, mostly working in the import and export businesses. Yiwu is also known as the "sock town" as it produces over three billion pairs of socks for Wal-Mart, Pringle and Disney annually. Yiwu is also known as No.1 producer of faddish jewelry in China.

Its 4C-grade airport has opened over a dozen of air routes to such cities as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shantou, Weifang, Shenzhen and so on. The Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway and Hangzhou-Jinhua Expressway pass through the city, making Yiwu an important local transportation hub. Express trains from Shanghai South Railway Station take less than three hours.