Madrid, Aug 3 (EFE) (Image: José Álvarez Diaz)
Unknown to millions of people who nevertheless use products daily that have passed through its wholesale market, the Chinese city of Yiwu reached a business volume of 13.809 billion dollars in 2014, with exports to 219 countries. Moreover, the “Yixinou” train route connecting this city with Madrid has become the longest in the world, spanning 13,052 kilometers.
The “Yixinou” train route is the longest in the world, covering 13,052 kilometers, and has been connecting China and Spain for several months. Its origin lies in a town near the eastern coast of the Asian giant, very famous in the region despite being relatively medium-sized for the country (with 1.2 million inhabitants and 130,000 foreign residents).
It is a place of global importance for trade, but its name remains practically unknown outside China, despite the growing significance of Chinese-made products in global trade over the last decades—especially bazaar items whose unbeatable prices have spread them all over the world.
The origin of this route is Yiwu (pronounced “Iú” in Spanish), totally unknown to hundreds of millions of people who, however, unknowingly use products daily that have passed through its gigantic wholesale market.
MECCA OF RETAIL TRADE.
Those who are very familiar with what this Chinese name hides are the tens of thousands of merchants from around the world who visit its gigantic commercial complex every day, often making several trips a year to buy products they later sell or distribute in their own markets.
In fact, Yiwu—only granted city status in 1988 and still under the jurisdiction of Jinhua prefecture in the prosperous eastern province of Zhejiang (famous for the entrepreneurial spirit of its businesspeople and, indeed, the birthplace of China’s private sector since the 1980s)—has become an economic hub of great influence throughout the east of the country, quite an achievement for a town of its size.
In China, it has even earned the nickname “The Mecca of Retail Trade,” as it has become a key reference point for traders dealing in Chinese-manufactured products, and also due to the large number of Muslim traders from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East who regularly travel there.
Some even live there, which has led to the emergence of a lively “Arab quarter” full of shops and restaurants in the city center, often opening at night when customers have finished their day’s business and come to relax or look for gifts or souvenirs from their latest stay in China.
Part of Yiwu’s success lies in the fact that the city, about 250 kilometers from Shanghai, boasts several centuries of tradition in commerce, and its location
