Why traders go there
Since the 1980s Yiwu has grown from a street market into five districts of showrooms selling everything from socks to Christmas decorations, backed by factories across Zhejiang. Buyers from the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and Latin America come to source in person, and many settled: Arabic and Urdu are heard on Chouzhou North Road as often as Chinese.
How far Yiwu is from the places you will pass through
| From | Roughly | Fastest public option | Typical time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shanghai | ~300 km north-east | High-speed train from Shanghai Hongqiao | 1.5–2 h visitor-reported |
| Hangzhou | ~100 km north | High-speed train from Hangzhou East or West | 40–70 min visitor-reported |
| Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport (HGH) | — | Airport coach to the Yiwu market bus centre, ¥72 | about 2 h operator timetable |
| Jinhua (the prefecture city) | next door, to the west | High-speed train, or the intercity metro | 20–30 min by train |
| Hengdian World Studios (Dongyang) | next door, to the east | Jinhua–Yiwu–Dongyang intercity metro | ~44 min visitor-reported |
| Guangzhou | far south | Flight to Yiwu (YIW) or Hangzhou | ~2 h flight; 6–7 h by train |
Distances are approximate; train times vary by service — always check 12306 or Trip.com. Coach: operator timetable reprinted by Jinhua Bendibao (2024), read 2026-09-22. Step-by-step routes: How to get to Yiwu.
What the official figures say
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Resident population (2020 national census) | 1,859,390 | Yiwu News, 24 Aug 2021 |
| Market founded | 1982 | Yiwu Fair official site |
| Booths in the small-commodity market | about 75,000 | Yiwu Fair official site |
| Operating floor area | over 5.5 million m² | Yiwu Fair official site |
| Products on sale | about 2.1 million items in 26 categories | Yiwu Fair official site |
| Export destinations | 219 countries and regions | Yiwu Fair official site |
| Resident foreign merchants | more than 13,000 | Yiwu Fair official site |
| Daily visitors to the market | over 210,000 | Yiwu Fair official site |
Sources: Yiwu News (census); China Yiwu International Commodities Fair — market overview. Both read 2026-09-26. Market figures are the operator’s own and are not independently verified; the census counts residents, not the large floating population of traders.
The parts of Yiwu a visitor actually uses
Yiwu is a sprawling city rather than a compact old town, and a trading visit happens in a handful of areas that are 10–30 minutes apart by taxi:
- International Trade City (Futian Market) — Districts 1 to 5 plus the newer Global Digital Trade Center (District 6). This is the market people mean by “Yiwu market”. Visitor guide.
- Exotic Street (Chouzhou North Road) — the Arab, Turkish, Yemeni and South Asian restaurant strip near the market, where most Muslim traders eat. Exotic Street guide.
- Yiwu Mosque on Jiangbin West Road, by the river — Friday prayer and the Ramadan iftar crowd. Mosque guide.
- Binwang and Santing Road — the night market and the older trade district. Night market.
- Yiwu Railway Station and Yiwu Airport (YIW) — the two arrival points, each with its own route guide: station → market, airport → market.
Outside the city, the county still has its older life: Fotang’s river town, the brown-sugar workshops of Yiting and the villages that made Yiwu’s name before the market existed — see things to do in Yiwu.
Is Yiwu a good place for Muslim visitors?
For a Chinese city, unusually so. Yiwu has a large, working mosque with Friday prayer (visitors report it starts around 13:15), a restaurant strip run largely by Arab, Turkish and South Asian owners, and Hui and Xinjiang kitchens across town. Of the restaurants on this site, 19 are listed by Amap in its official 清真菜馆 (halal restaurant) category and many more are Cuisine-based Middle Eastern or South Asian kitchens; every listing says how its halal status was established. Start at halal food in Yiwu, and if you are coming in the holy month, Ramadan in Yiwu.
When to go
- The market is open every day, including Sundays, and trades in the morning best; stalls start packing up from about 16:30.
- It closes for about two weeks at Chinese New Year. In 2026 Districts 1–5 closed on the afternoon of 13 February and reopened on 28 February. In 2027 the New Year falls around 6 February and overlaps the expected start of Ramadan — plan sourcing trips for January or March.
- The Yiwu Fair (China Yiwu International Commodities Fair) is the city’s big trade show; check yiwufair.com for the current year’s dates before booking a hotel, as rooms near the market fill up.
- Weather: Yiwu has hot, humid summers and cool, damp winters; spring and autumn are the most comfortable months for walking the market districts.
From sugar peddlers to the “world’s supermarket”
Yiwu has little farmland to spare, and for generations its people earned extra money on the road. The famous local trade was 鸡毛换糖 (jī máo huàn táng) — “chicken feathers for sugar”: peddlers carried Yiwu brown sugar from village to village and swapped it for chicken feathers, which went back home as fertiliser and for feather dusters. The habit of buying small, selling small and travelling far is the thread that connects those peddlers to today’s market; you will still see the phrase on restaurant signs and souvenir shops.
The market itself began in 1982 as street stalls and moved indoors in stages; the International Trade City’s District 1 opened in 2002, and the districts that followed turned Yiwu into the place buyers from the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Latin America come to fill a container with thousands of different items from one city. The official figures are in the table above.
Going?
How to get there and what to do when you land.
Questions visitors ask
Is Yiwu near Shanghai?
About 300 km away; roughly 1.5–2 hours by high-speed train from Shanghai Hongqiao.
How big is Yiwu?
A county-level city of 1,859,390 residents at the 2020 national census (Yiwu News, 2021), plus a large floating population of traders. The market alone has about 75,000 booths, according to its operator.
Why is Yiwu famous?
For the International Trade City, the world's largest small-commodity wholesale market, and the international trading community around it.
What province is Yiwu in?
Zhejiang province, eastern China. Yiwu is a county-level city administered by Jinhua, the prefecture city next door.
How many foreigners live in Yiwu?
The market operator states that more than 13,000 foreign merchants are resident in Yiwu (Yiwu Fair official site, read 2026-09-26). Many more come for short buying trips.
Does Yiwu have an airport?
Yes — Yiwu Airport (YIW), about 30 minutes from the market by taxi, with domestic and some international flights. Many visitors fly into Shanghai or Hangzhou instead and take the high-speed train; see How to get to Yiwu.
Is Yiwu market the biggest wholesale market in the world?
It is widely described as the world’s largest small-commodity wholesale market: the operator lists about 75,000 booths and 2.1 million products across more than 5.5 million m² of floor space.