Yiwu City (Chinese: 义乌 pinyin: yìwū) is a city of about 1,000,000 people in central Zhejiang Province in the People's Republic of China. Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... Zhejiang (Chinese: 浙江; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Che-chiang; Postal System Pinyin: Chehkiang or Chekiang) is an eastern coastal province of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

History

Yiwu was founded in the Qin dynasty, at or about 222 BC. Yiwu's long history flourished as early as the Neolithic Age. Yiwu first became a county in the year 222BC and was renamed Yiwu County in the year 624 AD. In May 1988, the former Yiwu County was upgraded to a county-level city. In 1995, Yiwu ranked the 47th among China's 100 most powerful counties/cities regarding comprehensive economic strength and in the same year listed as Zhejiang's sole city among the nation's experimental counties/cities of comprehensive reform. In 2001, the Yiwu overall economy ranked 19th of all counties (cities) of China. The Qin Dynasty (Chinese: 秦朝; Pinyin: Qín Cháo; Wade-Giles: Chin Chao) (221 BC - 206 BC) was preceded by the Zhou Dynasty and followed by the Han Dynasty in China. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC - 220s BC - 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC Years: 227 BC 226 BC 225 BC 224 BC 223 BC - 222 BC - 221 BC 220 BC...

Yiwu's early culture has given birth to many great figures in the fields of literature, art military, education, and engineering. Among these were Chen Wangdao, China's first translator of the Communist Manifesto; Wu Han, historian and former deputy mayor of Beijing; Zhu Zhixi, the meritorious engineer in harnessing the Yellow River, and Zongze, a well-known general from the Song Dynasty who resisted aggression by the State of Jin. Chen Wangdao (陈望道) (1891-1977) was a prominent Chinese scholar and educator. ... Malayalam editon of the Manifesto The Communist Manifesto, also known as The Manifesto of the Communist Party, first published on February 21, 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is one of the worlds most historically influential political tracts. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a city in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... The Yellow River (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin:  ; Wade-Giles: Hwang-ho, sometimes simply called the River in ancient Chinese) is the second longest river in China (after Yangtze River) and the fifth in the world. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... now. ...

Geography

Yiwu is located 160 km south of the city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province. The nearest city to Yiwu is Dongyang. The area, as in most of the Province of Zhejiang, is in a mountainous region.   (Chinese: ; pinyin: Hángzhōu; Postal map spelling: Hangchow) is a sub-provincial city in China and the capital of Zhejiang province. ... Dongyang is a Chinese city of about 1,000,000 people in the middle of Zhejiang Province, about 200 kilometers south of Hangzhou. ...

Administration

It has under its jurisdiction 15 towns and 8 villages, which covers 1102.8 square kilometers, 15 square kilometers of which are urban area of 650,000 people (2005 estimate).

Economy

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. The word commodity is a term with distinct meanings in business and in Marxian political economy. ...

Its 4C-grade airport has opened over a dozen of air routes to such cities as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shantou, Weifang and Shenzhen. The Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway and Hangzhou-Jinhua Expressway pass through the city, making Yiwu an important local transportation hub. Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a city in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... (Simplified Chinese: 广州; Traditional Chinese: 廣州; pinyin: GuÇŽngzhōu; Wade-Giles: Kuang-chou; Postal System Pinyin: Canton) is the capital of Guangdong Province in southern China. ... The historic quarter of Shantou, which features both Western and Chinese architecture Shantou (Simplified Chinese: 汕头; Traditional Chinese: 汕頭; Hanyu Pinyin: ; POJ: Sòaⁿ-thau; also seen as Swátōw or Suátao) is a city of 784,000 in coastal eastern Guangdong Province, China, metropolitan area 4,721,117 (calculation... Dongfeng Street in Downtown Weifang Weifang (潍坊; Pinyin: Wéifāng) is an important city in central Shandong province, China. ... Shenzhen (Chinese: ; pinyin: ShÄ“nzhèn; Hakka:cim1 zun4; Cantonese Jyutping: sam1 zan3; Yale: sām jan; Sham Chun or Shamchun in old or Hong Kong documents; lit. ... Zhejiang (Chinese: 浙江; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Che-chiang; Postal System Pinyin: Chehkiang or Chekiang) is an eastern coastal province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Jiangxi (Chinese: 江西; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chiang-hsi; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsi) is a southern province of the Peoples Republic of China, spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: Hángzhōu; Postal map spelling: Hangchow) is a sub-provincial city in China and the capital of Zhejiang province. ... Jinhua (Simplified Chinese: 金华; pinyin: JÄ«nhuá; lit. ...

Miscellaneous

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 sock town as it produces over three billion pairs of socks for Wal-Mart, Pringle and Disney annually. Yiwu is also known as Chinas number one in fashion jewellery production. The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, referred to as Christ. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

Planning to go there? Fly to Shanghai and take a taxi to Yiwu. It takes about 4 hours and cost 800 RMB (november 2006). Make sure you have RMB in cash, as it can be tricky to get cash in a bank here when you are not Chineese. Creditcards are accepted at most hotels and resturants. Otherwise cash is needed.

External links

• [http://www.yiwu-china.org/yiwu_city.html Photo album about Yiwu, China Zhejiang.]
• The rapid rise of China's sock town
• Pictures of Yiwu and the "CHINA YIWU INTERNATIONAL COMMODITIES FAIR"
• Some pictures of "International Arts angfsdfgfdsgdsfgsdfgfdsd Crafts, Gifts & Exquisite Home Furnishings Trade Fair"
  
• Yiwu Guide