Opened in November 1982-Yiwu International Trade City

Yiwu International Trade City, also known as the Yiwu Market, is the primary wholesale market complex in Yiwu, Zhejiang, China. According to the World Bank, it is the world’s largest small commodities market. In 2013, the market sold US$11 billion of goods.

When the market was opened in November 1982, it merely consisted of a few hundred sheds and stalls, but proved highly popular and grew quickly. In 1983, the county government spent 580,000 yuan (US$293,567) to build a new market consisting of booths. By the end of that year, there were more than 1,000 vendors selling over 3,000 products, most of them from outside of Yiwu.

The market is divided into 5 districts covering an area of 4 million square meters for 75,000 booths where 100,000 suppliers exhibit 400,000 kinds of products. The products come from around 40 industries and include 2,000 different categories of goods.

Given its size and the variety of booths selling different items, the market is a vast labyrinth.