Yiwu Information

Yiwu City is a city of about 1,000,000 people in central Zhejiang Province in the People's 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 .

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.

Geography
Yiwu is located 100 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.

Administration
Yiwu is technically part of the greater Municipal region of Jinhua, although it has a distinct urban core. 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.

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. Express trains from Shanghai South Railway Station take less than three hours.

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 the "sock town" as it produces over three billion pairs of socks for Wal-Mart, Pringle and Disney annually. Yiwu is also known as China 's number one producer of fashion jewelry.

Planning to go there? Fly to Shanghai and take a train, bus, or taxi to Yiwu. It takes about 4 hours by taxi and costs 800 RMB (November 2006). There are trains and buses that leave Shanghai every day. The journey is 3 to 5 hours by train, depending on the type of train, and costs 50RMB or less (Sept 2006). Changing foreign money is simple at the several Bank of China branches around the city. Credit cards may be accepted at some hotels and restaurants, otherwise cash is needed..

Local Hotel & Restaurants

Hotel  Information

1. Kingdom Hotel  ( 5 star )
义乌锦都酒店 
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85268888

3. Ramada Hyde Hotel Yiwu  ( 5 star )
义乌海德华美达酒店 
Tel.:86 - 579 - 86662222

4. Tianheng International Hotel  ( 5 star)
浙江天恒国际大酒店 
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85888888

5. Xinlian Hotel ( 4 star )
义乌信联酒店 
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85562888

6. Ramada Plaza Yiwu  ( 4 star)
义乌华美达广场之江大酒店 
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85388888

7. Kaixin Hotel  ( 4 star )
义乌钱塘凯信大酒店
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85566888

8. Yiwu Hotel ( 4 star )
义乌大酒店
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85559999

9. Yimei Plaza Hotel ( 4 star )
义乌伊美广场酒店
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85278888

10. Yihe Hotel  ( 4 star)
义乌颐和大酒店 
Tel.:86 - 579 - 83818888

11. Yindu Hotel  ( 4 star)
义乌银都酒店 
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85588888

12. Yiwu Shangcheng Hotel ( 3 star)
义乌商城宾馆
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85458888

Restaurants  Information

1. 1001 Nights Restaurant （一千一夜餐厅）
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85554799 

2. U.B.C Coffee （上岛咖啡）
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85570789 

3. Starbucks Coffee (星巴克咖啡)
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85020896 (颐和店)

4. Pizza Hut （必胜客）
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85456882（城中中路店）

5. KFC Fast Food （肯德基）
Tel.:86 - 579 - 85521561 （解百店）

6. McDonald’s Fast Food (麦当劳)
Tel.:86 - 579 -85268108 (绣湖餐厅)