Yiwu Travel Guide

Yiwu City (Simplified Chinese: 义乌; Traditional Chinese: 義烏; Hanyu Pinyin: yìwū) is a city of about 1,000,000 people in central Zhejiang Province in the People's Republic of China. 

Located in the central Zhejiang Province, Yiwu City is surrounded by mountains on three sides, covering an area of 1,105 square kilometers (about 426 square miles). In the year 222 BC, the Emperor Ying Zheng of the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206 BC) set up a county here. At present, Yiwu is famous in China as a commodities center. People from all over the world come to Yiwu City to buy commodities for resale in other parts of China or abroad. Yiwu's China Small-Commodity Market has for 6 consecutive years topped China's 100 top open markets and was for successive years listed as China's civilized open market. It has been named as the banner of China's market economy and with a large variety of quality but cheaper commodities, the market has become a shopping paradise for tourists.

Beautiful Xiuhu Lake and cliffy Songpu Hill attracted a series of historic poets and scholars who were compelled to express their appreciation of the city's beauty. Yiwu is also the hometown of a number of historic people from ancient times. For example, Luo Binwang - one of the great patriotic poets in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Zong Ze - the patriotic general of Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), Zhu Danxi - one of the four famous doctors of the Jin and Yuan dynasties as well as Chen Wangdao, Feng Xuefeng and Wu Han, all of whom have made their contributions to the modern China. During your trip to this city, you will have chances to visit their hometowns which lie around Yiwu City.

Yiwu is renowned as a shopping paradise for small commodities. The flourishing markets which take up a large area of the city should not be missed. Yiwu provides a different kind of tour experience, for it is a composite of shopping and tour. The International Trade City which makes up the China's Commodities Trade City with Huangyuan Market and Binwang Market presents you with the city's unique vigor. This is an excellent place to purchase souvenirs for you and your relatives and friends.

Yiwu boasts an Olympic quality stadium 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 China's number one producer of fashion jewelry.

Planning to go there? Fly to Shanghai and take a train, bus, or taxi to Yiwu. It takes about 4 hours by taxi and costs 800 RMB (November 2006). There are trains and buses that leave Shanghai every day. The journey was 3 to 5 hours by train, depending on the type of train, and costs 50RMB or less (Sept 2006). The fastest train from Shanghai to Yiwu City is about 2 hours and 15 minutes as of April 2006 (D685, departs shanghai 7:25a, arrives Yiwu 9:40a). Changing foreign money is simple at the several Bank of China branches around the city. Credit cards may be accepted at some hotels and restaurants, otherwise cash is needed.

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