visit yiwu: is the spirit of "trading chicken feathers for sugar" still needed today? | across mountains and seas
2024-09-21
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yiwu, known as the "capital of small commodities", is a county-level city in zhejiang province with a total area of 1,105.46 square kilometers and a permanent population of 1.903 million by the end of 2023. in 2023, yiwu's gdp exceeded 200 billion for the first time, reaching 205.562 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8%.
on the high-speed train to yiwu, i saw a set of foreign trade data released by yiwu customs on the front page of jinhua daily, which was particularly eye-catching: in the first seven months of 2024, yiwu's total import and export trade increased by 18.1% year-on-year. in detail, in the first seven months, yiwu's exports to hot spots such as the united states and countries participating in the belt and road initiative all increased significantly year-on-year.
how did yiwu achieve rapid growth in import and export trade volume in a global environment that was generally considered "not very optimistic" instead of looking for reasons in the "macro-environment"?
1. visit yiwu
some people say that one should come to yiwu to see the prosperity of the small commodity world and how the merchants here gradually accumulate huge wealth from "a needle and thread, a straw and a plastic flower".
wealth here is "low-key luxury". when you see those ordinary people and those entrepreneurial stories that started from ordinary small objects, you will also give yourself some confidence: you can also create wealth little by little with your own hands like them.
in this global small commodity city known as the "world supermarket", the propaganda about yiwu's city spirit is everywhere. even in the hotel restaurant, a small table for placing condiments displays a few eye-catching words - "in yiwu, there is business and life", which tells people the characteristics of this small city - a business city where business is everywhere.
walking into yiwu small commodity city (now called yiwu international trade city), which is composed of five districts connected together, it feels like falling into a sea of commodities.
people who come here for the first time are all surprised: first, there are so many goods; second, the initial prices in the commodity sales chain are so low.
the chinese cultural sayings of "not accumulating small steps" and "not wasting small streams" have the most realistic and vivid footnotes here.
yiwu's total import and export volume in the first seven months of this year increased by 18.1% year-on-year, which clearly shows yiwu's economic resilience and vitality in the global economic development cycle.
the merchants in the thousands of shops in yiwu small commodity city are practical and do not have extra time to talk about things that are not related to business. looking along the way, some of them are busy negotiating orders with foreign merchants, and some are busy processing orders online.
at noon, most people in the shops would take out a small table and put it on the ground, either alone or with a few people, to have a simple lunch. a mobile car selling boxed lunches passed through the narrow aisles of the commodity city. in the large open space between the two areas, there was a person who occasionally stood there blending fresh fruits into juice. the juice was not expensive, and it also reflected the pricing principle of the trade city for commodities - small profits but quick turnover.
although digital construction is in progress and live streaming is widely used here, many small commodities cannot be distinguished without touching and experiencing them, and without visiting the site in person. half of the buyers in yiwu international trade city may be foreigners.
statistics show that market procurement trade plays a dominant role in yiwu's trade, and this trade mode is very suitable for the characteristics of small commodity trade here.
there are many night markets in yiwu. besides the atmosphere of fireworks, there is also business. the wide variety of low-priced goods here not only attracts locals and domestic tourists, but also many foreigners to come and shop. the low prices are attractive to everyone.
the female owner of the bag shop told the customer that all the bags in the store were 100 yuan, and there was no need to ask for prices or bargain. there was no time for further introduction. when she met the last customer, it was already past midnight. in the early morning of a new day, she didn't want to talk any more, and hurriedly packed the goods into the car, saying a little tiredly, "others can go back to sleep soon, but i can't, i still have to ship to other wholesale customers."
2. commercial civilization created by the spirit of “trading chicken feathers for sugar”
yiwu’s business is a consensus among both locals and outsiders about this city.
there is a restaurant in yiwu named "'chicken feathers for sugar' yiwu cuisine". the cultural elements used in the restaurant design are all about the business spirit of yiwu people. yiwu has accumulated a lot of wealth for china's business civilization through the inheritance of generations and the rapid development of the small commodity market in the past 44 years.this yiwu sample in the history of china's reform and opening up is a history of struggle of a group of ordinary people. the subtle efforts of the people have been combined to steadily push this small inland city in zhejiang to the world.
the words on the restaurant wall are the core of the commercial culture of this small commodity city. reading them is simple, sad, and shining. the emotions revealed in the words are the little thoughts and great wishes of ordinary people.those wishes and the actions of carrying loads over mountains and across rivers were eventually forged into an ironclad commercial civilization, which has created the yiwu of today.
"carrying a hundred kinds of business on both shoulders, a pair of sugar baskets can be changed in eighteen ways; climbing mountains and crossing ridges to go everywhere, making a living is good for the new year." it is unknown who described the scene of yiwu peddlers doing business. there is no lofty words, it is a true description. who is willing to walk the streets outside? for a living, to get through these difficult days of wandering, what they want most is to go home to reunite and celebrate the chinese new year. for hundreds of years, "exchanging chicken feathers for sugar" has been an important means of livelihood for many yiwu farmers. the "chicken feathers for sugar" people who went from village to village and hawked along the streets used rattles in their hands to shake out the largest small commodity wholesale market in asia. the "chicken feathers for sugar" business tradition passed down from generation to generation by yiwu farmers is the historical origin of the rise of yiwu small commodity market, which is known as "the largest market in china".
"chicken feathers for sugar" words on the wall of yiwu restaurant
the people of yiwu in the new era are the beneficiaries of the dividends of reform and opening up, and are also the most sensitive opportunity discoverers in policy changes. in 1982, the fourth year after the clarion call of reform and opening up, yiwu established the earliest yiwu small commodity market. now, as soon as you walk out of yiwu's high-speed railway station, on both sides of the passage leading to the exit, there are many red-bottomed yellow words on the latest central spirit of the implementation of the development proposal, showing the chinese characteristics of a small city, and the subtle steps are closely following the tide of the times. for example, "deepen the study and implementation of the spirit of the third plenary session of the 20th cpc central committee to build a world small commodity capital with high quality and high level", etc., which not only has the latest central spirit, but also combines the local actual situation. near the exit, the facilities in the high-speed railway also show the style of the global small commodity capital. there is a very obvious public security sign printed in five languages, including chinese, english, and korean, which means "foreign personnel service office" in chinese. at the same time, since most of the chinese who trade with central asia and other places are ethnic minorities in the northwest, a "minority service point" has been set up in the service office next to it.
on the electronic display screen opposite the exit of the high-speed railway station, it is written that "small commodity big market continues to create new glory". this is an important instruction given by general secretary xi jinping when he inspected and investigated yiwu international trade city on september 20, 2023. this sentence also appears in yiwu international trade city.
when i was conducting research in some small cities in the yangtze river delta, i found that the entrepreneurs who started their business at the beginning of reform and opening up enjoyed the policy dividends through hard work under the guidance of the reform and opening-up policies. today, even though some of them have become very successful companies in the industry, they still habitually care about the country's major policies. some private enterprises have even formed their own research teams to carefully study the latest documents and guidelines to find business opportunities.
yiwu's products are exported all over the world, which attracts foreign business travelers who come here to purchase goods. in order to facilitate their business dealings here, the front desk of the hotel where i live shows warm details of providing services for people from all countries and various payment methods. a small sign of "convenient payment in zhejiang" shows that the accepted payment methods include: cash payment, digital rmb, unionpay, visa, american express, jcb, diners club international, discover, cloud quickpass, alipay, wechat, etc. in terms of trade payment methods, yiwu has also launched its own "yi pay" (yiwupay) to meet the cross-border payment and domestic payment services of trading partners.
the small city of yiwu not only has high-speed rail links, but also an airport to welcome visitors from all over the world. as yiwu is a global small commodity purchasing center, cross-border freight is very developed here, and the china-europe express transports chinese-made goods here to all parts of the world. this year marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the "yi-xin-europe" china-europe express (yiwu platform). over the past ten years, the train has opened and operated 20 routes, radiating more than 160 cities in more than 50 countries and regions.
in addition, due to yiwu's special urban function positioning, yiwu airport has become the first county-level airport aviation port in china to be open to foreign countries after four expansions. on august 29, 2023, the first all-cargo flight between yiwu and ezhou was launched, which is also the first domestic all-cargo route opened by yiwu airport.
3. data on yiwu's domestic and foreign trade "dual circulation"
how many countries does yiwu do business with? how many provinces and cities in the country does yiwu's products connect with?
yiwu is now positioned as a node of the international and domestic "dual circulation". today, yiwu's products are sold overseas and all over the country.
nowadays, besides people who place orders, some tourists also come to yiwu. after noticing this situation, the local government has made some small changes in yiwu small commodity city: shops near the main streets will take out some goods and put them at the door to meet the retail needs of ordinary tourists.
let's take a look at the foreign trade data released by yiwu customs. from january to july 2024, the total value of imports and exports in yiwu reached 379.1 billion yuan, an increase of 18.1% year-on-year. among them, exports were 335.97 billion yuan, an increase of 18.5% year-on-year; imports were 43.13 billion yuan, an increase of 15.7% year-on-year. the import and export, export and import values accounted for 12.6%, 15.0% and 5.5% of the whole province of zhejiang, respectively, an increase of 1.2, 1.3 and 0.4 percentage points respectively. yiwu is obviously the country's "top student" in foreign trade. in the first seven months of 2024, the total value of my country's import and export of goods was 24.83 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. among them, exports were 14.26 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%; imports were 10.57 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%. yiwu's commodity imports and exports cover the global market. among them, in the first seven months of this year, yiwu's imports and exports to major trade markets such as africa, latin america, the united states and asean maintained steady growth, with imports and exports to the above countries and regions reaching 68.33 billion yuan, 63.15 billion yuan, 48.15 billion yuan and 37.58 billion yuan, up 15.4%, 27.8%, 32.2% and 35.8% year-on-year, respectively. yiwu's imports and exports to india and saudi arabia reached 18.49 billion yuan and 9.11 billion yuan, up 20.2% and 13.0% year-on-year, respectively.
in recent years, the import and export of the countries participating in the belt and road initiative to china has gradually increased, and the foreign trade data between yiwu and these countries is also very good. in the first seven months of this year, yiwu's total import and export volume with the countries participating in the belt and road initiative reached 236.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.4%, accounting for 62.3% of yiwu's total import and export value during the same period.
from the perspective of export methods, market procurement trade still dominates. from january to july this year, yiwu exported 270.18 billion yuan through market procurement trade, a year-on-year increase of 24.3%, accounting for 80.4% of the city's total exports. during the same period, yiwu imported and exported 86.95 billion yuan through general trade, a year-on-year increase of 4.0%. from january to july this year, yiwu imported 25.32 billion yuan of consumer goods, a year-on-year increase of 28.5%, accounting for 58.7% of the city's total imports. among them, imported beauty cosmetics and toiletries were 4.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37.1%.
also an observation point for yiwu trade, on august 15, zhejiang china commodity city group co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "commodity city") released its 2024 semi-annual report, saying that in the first half of the year, the company achieved operating income of approximately 6.766 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.1%; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was approximately 1.448 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 27.54%. for the increase and decrease, the explanation of the commodity city is that the operating income increased by 1.605 billion yuan compared with the same period last year, mainly due to the increase in market operations, commodity sales and trade services compared with the same period last year; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies decreased by 550 million yuan compared with the same period last year, due to a decrease of 1.051 billion yuan in investment income and asset disposal income, while the net profit of market operations and trade services increased by 501 million yuan.
for trade, data is the most telling result. the reason why yiwu's small commodity imports and exports still maintain rapid growth during the global economic transition cycle is that it directly connects with customer needs and finds the market from demand, which is the simplest truth for production and operation.
4. standardized management of yiwu manufacturing
after five iterations and upgrades, yiwu international trade city now sells products not only from low-tech workshops, but also from handmade products, private brands that are going global, local products, and products made in china. in addition to the rich product categories, the product levels are also diverse.
people's perception of yiwu's products may still remain at the initial handicraft workshop stage. people often joke that the souvenirs they buy when traveling are all produced in yiwu, which reflects the strong manufacturing capacity of yiwu. however, yiwu manufacturing is by no means synonymous with low quality.
in the early days of reform and opening up, chinese products were regarded as "poor quality and low price" overseas, which brought some negative impacts to chinese products. however, after more than 40 years of reform and opening up, the quality of chinese products has leapt up several levels, and china is gradually moving towards the middle and upper reaches of the industrial chain.
with the overall quality upgrade of china's manufacturing, yiwu has put standardized production on the agenda in recent years.
the importance of standardized production is mentioned in many scenes of yiwu small commodity market. for example, there is a passage like this: "standards are the result of the progress of human civilization. from the ancient chinese 'standard track for vehicles and standard writing for books' to modern industrial large-scale production, they are all vivid practices of standardization. with the deepening development of economic globalization, the role of standardization in facilitating economic and trade exchanges, supporting industrial development, promoting scientific and technological progress, and regulating social governance has become increasingly prominent. standards have become the world's 'common language'. the world needs the coordinated development of standards, and standards promote global connectivity. the prosperity of the market requires better quality products, innovative implementation and application of standards, and promotion of market prosperity and development."
in yiwu small commodity city, there is a shop called xingbao umbrella, an umbrella brand that has been passed down for three generations. in september 2023, general secretary xi jinping visited this shop during his inspection in yiwu. today, xingbao umbrella is sold in more than 100 countries in the world. such a local manufacturing brand is itself a global brand.
yiwu is yiwu of zhejiang, yiwu of china and yiwu of the world.today, this market has created thousands of brands, many of which have become global brands after being sold at home and abroad.
in the main street of the commodity city, some shops put out some goods for tourists to buy. a shop owner said that because some people are not wholesalers, but only come for tourism and inspection, in order to respond to this group of people, retail services are provided. however, there are not many such retail service shops, and the retail commodity categories provided are not many. yiwu small commodity city can be said to be an ocean of commodities. we never thought that we needed so many things in life. after seeing these commodities, we realized that the small commodities we used may come from here, such as a pair of scissors, a hairpin, a plastic cover for a badge, a decorative fake flower used in festivals, a shovel... the domain name of the english website of yiwu small commodity city is www.chinagoods.com, which directly corresponds to the four words "chinese goods". as the world's largest manufacturing country and a country with the most complete industrial chain, china's strong manufacturing industry and complete industrial chain are beyond imagination, which has also become the advantage of china's economy today. understanding chinese commodities in yiwu can see the big picture from the small details and know the huge system.
walking on the streets of yiwu, observing one street after another, you will find that the street markets are also small commodity trading areas, and some are directly named after a small commodity. for example, chouzhou middle road is a street of shelves, and almost all the shops along the street sell shelves, of all kinds. people who want to buy shelves will definitely find one they like on this street.
yiwu is a small commodity trading city, and can also be seen as a large shelf for displaying goods. if you want to know how many kinds of goods there are in the world, you might as well come here to count them. sightseeing and tourism are also new business opportunities here, making the global small commodity capital a good version of the combination of culture, commerce and tourism. everything is formed naturally. if you make full use of your advantages and make them strong, corresponding value will be derived. some business locations are also awarded "recommended business locations for shopping and tourism."
when people talk about enterprises going overseas, they seem to think that it is something they have to do. from the perspective of yiwu's small commodity business, the merchants here do not go overseas for the sake of going overseas. it is still the unchanging truth: wherever there is a market, there is business. many years ago, yiwu people crossed mountains and rivers and walked through the streets to do barter business in thousands of households in china. now, their business has crossed mountains and seas to the world. the shop owners here do not think that it is a great thing to be global, it is just a natural thing. it is not uncommon for the shop owners here to speak english, because the customers they face every day are foreigners, and foreign languages are a necessary communication tool. everything is practical and not redundant.
in order to cooperate with the global trade of yiwu's small commodities, in addition to the small commodity city, yiwu also has a large number of shared cloud warehouses, where large trucks loaded with goods are either parked or moving, transporting the goods to their destinations.
5. we need to have a little yiwu spirit
observing yiwu actually makes people more introspective.
what can i do? what can i do for those in this world who need me?
the big environment is not unimportant. we all hope to live in an environment where all kinds of external environments are very suitable for personal life, employment, and growth. however, the world is never always sunny and bright. when there are some conditions that we cannot choose, if people want to live a good life, should they complain or work hard to break through and turn unfavorable conditions into opportunities that can be used? the answer that yiwu people tell the world is: work hard to find markets, solve the needs of the world, and build their own business.
yiwu was originally a small county town in central zhejiang with inconvenient transportation and limited resources. it is far away from the surrounding big cities, such as shanghai and hangzhou, which means it is not in the radiation circle of big cities. traditional yiwu farmers have a means of making a living by "exchanging chicken feathers for sugar" to do small commodity business. today, "exchanging chicken feathers for sugar" is the symbol and synonym of yiwu spirit.
when the clarion call of reform and opening up sounded in china, the traditional business spirit of the yiwu people who traveled through mountains and rivers and carried poles to do business was ignited like a spark. in 1982, the earliest small commodity market appeared in yiwu. at that time, people changed the way of doing business from the traditional street-to-street business to the stall business with more aggregation power. by the end of 1984, the second generation of yiwu small commodity market with a renovated facade was put into use. at that time, yiwu small commodity practitioners also established an association organization. according to data photos, a slogan "warmly congratulate the successful convening of the first congress of the yiwu small commodity market individual workers association" was hung in this market, which was very formal and lively. in september 1986, the third generation of small commodity market located at the intersection of chengzhong road and huangyuan road was completed. after two expansions, by the end of 1990, the third generation of yiwu small commodity market had become the largest professional small commodity wholesale market in the country. in may 1992, the fourth generation of small commodity wholesale market "small commodity world" in yiwu, zhejiang was completed and put into use. on october 21, 2008, the first phase of the third phase of yiwu international trade city opened. today, yiwu international trade city has five districts connected together. taxi drivers have to ask passengers which district they are going to, because the span between each district is very large.
the yiwu sample is actually a very simple case, and it is easy to learn from it - start small and start from demand.
the business spirit of this city is the inheritance of the spirit of "trading chicken feathers for sugar", carrying a shoulder pole to find the market, just go. but who can leave home all year round to go from village to village to find business like them? the truth in the world is often not something high-tech and high-end. the spirit of yiwu can be copied, can be passed down, can be explained, and can be understood.the truth is simple. the so-called great successes often lie in the simplest principles and the simplest actions.
i don't like to complain, because complaining is useless. the yiwu spirit has been passed down for so long, it has supported the prosperity of this small city, it has given this land hope and vitality, and it has cultivated the people here to be brave and pragmatic.
(source of the title image of this article: visual china)
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author: yu jian, executive director of china business network research institute
(this article comes from china business network)
