History of Yiwu Market Development

40 years is just a fragment of the river of time. For the development of Yiwu market, it means striving to be the first and making great waves.
At both ends of its 40 year history, Yiwu has transformed from a once impoverished county in central Zhejiang to a “model student” of China’s reform and the most classic regional success example of socialist market economy. Yiwu has given birth to too many legends of contemporary Chinese path to modernization: it has ranked first in China’s major professional markets for 31 consecutive years; The world’s largest wholesale market for small commodities with a foreign trade import and export volume exceeding 380 billion yuan; Serving 2.17 million small and medium-sized enterprises across the country, directly and indirectly creating nearly 15 million job opportunities.
General Secretary Xi Jinping once pointed out during his work in Zhejiang: “The experience of Yiwu’s development is very rich, with both unique aspects and many aspects that have universal reference significance.” The 40 years of Yiwu market have given us many inspirations:
——How can government behavior and market vitality blend and complement each other under the socialist market economy concept?
——How can we firmly grasp the green mountains, carry out reforms to the end, accurately identify trends at every critical moment of growth, move steadily and steadily, and make the foundation of reform and development last forever?
——How to clarify the dialectical relationship and internal logic between the economy and society, wealth and spirit, and China and the world in their high-speed progress, and thus achieve sustainable prosperity and harmonious coexistence of all industries?

The early Yiwu small commodity market was once one of the many impoverished counties in Zhejiang. On September 5, 1982, in the hot and restless late summer, the first generation of Yiwu small commodity market quietly opened. Since then, successive governments have persevered in developing the small commodity market, and Yiwu has rapidly risen on the road of “developing commerce and building a city” and achieved unparalleled success. Since 1991, Yiwu Small Commodity Market has ranked first in China’s professional market transaction volume for 31 consecutive years· On August 25, 1982, the “Choucheng Town Rectification Market Leading Group” in Yiwu County issued the “Notice on Strengthening the Management of Yiwu Small Department Store Market”, which was the first government document in China to explicitly recognize the legalization of farmers, merchants, and professional markets.
·On September 5, 1982, Huqingmen Small Department Store Market officially opened, which was the first generation market in Yiwu.
·On November 25, 1982, the Yiwu County Committee and Government held a representative conference for rural professional households and key households throughout the county. At the meeting, Xie Gaohua, the then county party secretary, proposed the “Four Allowances” policy that would play a key catalytic role in the future development of Yiwu’s small commodity market: allowing farmers to do business, allowing long-distance trafficking, allowing the opening of urban and rural markets, and allowing multi-channel competition.
·In October 1984, the Yiwu County Committee and Government established the strategy of “developing commerce and building a county”.
·On October 28, 1986, the People’s Daily reported for the first time on the market experience that occurred in Yiwu on its front page, titled “Developing Private Markets to Drive Rural Industries – Yiwu’s’ Revitalizing Commerce and Building County ‘to Become Rich at a Faster pace”, and published a commentary article titled “Daxing Private Commerce”.
·On May 25, 1988, with the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Civil Affairs approved the Zhejiang Provincial Government to abolish Yiwu County and establish Yiwu City.
·On October 20, 1988, the State Council and the Central Military Commission approved the establishment of Yiwu Military Civilian Joint Airport. On April 1, 1991, the first flight ceremony of Civil Aviation Yiwu Airport was held.
·In February 1992, the completion of the first large-scale indoor market, the Huangyuan Small Commodity Market (fourth generation small commodity market), marked the maturity of Yiwu’s small commodity market.

On February 28, 1992, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce held a press conference on the top ten markets in China, announcing that the annual turnover of Yiwu Small Commodity Market in 1991 was 1.025 billion yuan, ranking first among the top ten markets in the country· On August 3, 1992, with the approval of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, Yiwu Small Commodity Market was officially renamed as “China Small Commodity City, Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province”.
·In 1993, the Yiwu Municipal Party Committee and Government proposed the implementation of the strategy of “promoting industry through commerce and linking trade and industry”, which formed a unique path for the coordinated development of commerce and industry in Yiwu.
·On December 27, 1993, China Small Commodity City Group Co., Ltd. was established in Yiwu. The industry and commerce department that originally directly established the market implemented a “separation of management and operation” and only assumed the public function of market administrative management.

Embracing the World: 1995-2005

Foreign friends experience traditional culture in Yiwu, where over 2.1 million types of small commodities are sold to more than 200 countries and regions around the world. International trade accounts for over 60% of the total transaction volume – Yiwu is truly the “capital of small commodities in the world”. What truly integrated Yiwu into the global market was China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, which led to a rapid increase in Yiwu’s international trade volume and the number of foreign merchants. In 2005, the international trade volume of Yiwu exceeded the domestic trade volume for the first time, marking the transformation of Yiwu market from domestic trade to foreign trade· On April 25, 1995, with the help of the Yiwu Property Rights Exchange, Korean businessman Jin Zaiyi obtained a position as a handicraft merchant, becoming the first foreign investor to settle in the Small Commodity City.
·In July 1995, the National Commission for Economic Reform approved Yiwu City as the only national comprehensive reform pilot county (city) in Zhejiang Province.
·In July 1999, Hangzhou University Yiwu Branch and Yiwu Vocational College of Commerce merged and rebuilt to establish Yiwu Vocational and Technical College of Industry and Commerce, becoming the first full-time higher education institution in China invested and established by the county (city) level government and included in the national unified enrollment plan.
·In December 2001, seven migrant workers from Dachen Town, Yiwu were elected as representatives of the town’s people’s congress, setting a precedent in the country and making a beneficial attempt for migrant workers to participate in politics and deliberation.
·In March 2002, with the approval of the State Council, the Yiwu Small Commodity Expo, founded in 1995, was upgraded to an international small commodity expo, becoming the third largest exhibition after the Canton Fair and the China International Fair.
·On May 9, 2002, China Commodity City Group Co., Ltd. was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with the stock code 600415, becoming the first listed company in Yiwu.
·In October 2002, the first district of Yiwu International Trade City was put into operation, marking the official launch of Yiwu’s fifth generation small commodity market.

In August 2005, Yiwu China Small Commodity City was confirmed by authoritative institutions such as the United Nations and the World Bank as the “world’s largest wholesale market for small commodities”· On October 24, 2005, the Exit and Entry Administration Bureau of Yiwu Public Security Bureau was inaugurated. Yiwu became the first county-level city authorized by the Ministry of Public Security to directly handle visas and residence permits for foreigners.
Starting from the Experience of Yiwu Development: 2006-2011

·On April 30, 2006, the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Government issued a notice on learning and promoting the development experience of Yiwu. From swaying the drum and wandering the streets and alleys, exchanging chicken feathers for sugar, to the market miracle of “buying and selling globally”, Yiwu’s development experience has become one of the most typical examples of China’s reform that interprets and analyzes the value orientation of developing the market economy and the ultimate goal of common prosperity. On April 30, 2006, the Zhejiang Provincial Committee and Government of the Communist Party of China issued a notice on learning and promoting the development experience of Yiwu, deciding to learn and promote the experience of Yiwu City in promoting the comprehensive construction of a moderately prosperous society and taking the path of scientific development throughout the province. The development experience of Yiwu includes six major connotations: “promoting commerce and city building, industrial linkage, urban-rural coordination, harmonious development, rich heritage, and active party and government”.
·On June 8, 2006, General Secretary Xi Jinping went to Yiwu for research during his work in Zhejiang, promoting the wave of learning Yiwu’s development experience that had already swept through Zhejiang at that time. At the symposium held in the meeting room of Hengtang Village Committee, Xi Jinping comprehensively expounded his “Yiwu experience” for the first time: the development of Yiwu is simply “inexplicable”, “out of thin air”, and “turning stones into gold”.

Yiwu · China Small Commodity Index · In November 2006, the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Government designated Yiwu as a reform pilot to further expand the economic and social management authority of county-level governments, granting Yiwu the same economic and social management authority as prefecture level cities· On October 22, 2007, the Ministry of Commerce and the Yiwu Municipal Government held a press conference to officially release the “Yiwu · China Small Commodity Index” to the world.
·On January 23, 2008, the first market credit index release platform in China was established in Yiwu, and the first Yiwu market credit index report was successfully released.
·On October 7, 2008, the research group on the path of development with Chinese characteristics, composed of the Central Policy Research Office and the Office of the Central Leading Group for Finance and Economics, released a comprehensive research report, and Yiwu was listed as one of the 18 typical regions for reform and opening up in China.
·In 2008, Yiwu City was listed as a provincial-level comprehensive reform pilot for coordinated urban-rural development, creating advantageous conditions for Yiwu to further enhance its vitality.

Continued glory in the new era: after 2012

On November 18, 2014, the first “Yixin Europe” China Europe freight train departed. Since the beginning of the new era, Yiwu has taken the approval of the “Yiwu International Trade Comprehensive Reform Pilot Plan” by the State Council as the starting point. Through deepening the reform of the trade facilitation system, it has pioneered the market procurement trade mode in the country, incorporated it into the free trade pilot zone, promoted digital trade reform, and made trade cheaper and more convenient. In recent years, Yiwu has further made efforts to fill the gaps in the industrial sector, and in 2021, the output value of industrial enterprises above designated size exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time, achieving the transformation of an industrial strong county (city)· In January 2012, the General Office of the State Council officially issued a notice on the “Key Work Division Plan for Promoting the Pilot Comprehensive Reform of International Trade in Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province”. The plan includes 18 items, including establishing a new trade mode of “market procurement”, supporting the development of e-commerce, building a national level small commodity international trade zone, and developing import and transit trade.
·In January 2013, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted the Foreign Affairs Office of Yiwu City “the qualification of an authorized unit” and delegated the approval authority to invite foreigners to China, which is the first time that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted the foreign affairs offices of county-level cities the approval authority.
·On March 20, 2014, eight ministries including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued a document agreeing to create the second batch of 30 cities, including Yiwu, as national e-commerce demonstration cities. Yiwu has also become the only county-level city approved to create a national e-commerce demonstration city.
·On November 18, 2014, the first “Yiwu Xinjiang Europe” railway shuttle bus was officially put into operation. Among the first batch of cities included in the “China Europe Railway Express” sequence, Yiwu is the only county-level city.
·In August 2017, Yiwu established the first national benchmark land price system for rural homesteads.
·In January 2019, the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government established the Yiwu International Trade Comprehensive Reform Pilot Zone, and set up the Pilot Zone Management Committee as a dispatched agency of the provincial government, fully granting provincial authority in the field of international trade and the same economic and social management authority as prefecture level cities.
·In September 2020, the State Council issued the “China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone Expansion Area Plan”, which explicitly included the Yiwu Comprehensive Bonded Zone of 1.34 square kilometers and the Jinyi Comprehensive Bonded Zone of 1.26 square kilometers.

On October 21, 2020, the official website of China Small Commodity City Group Co., Ltd., “Yiwu Small Commodity City” (www.chinagoods. com), was launched in Yiwu Comprehensive Bonded Zone, becoming an important platform for digital trade reform in Yiwu· In 2021, the total output value of industrial enterprises above designated size in Yiwu exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 116.37 billion yuan.
·On June 30, 2022, Dubai Yiwu China Small Commodity City opened, which is Yiwu’s first sub market overseas.