China’s smaller cities attracting increasing number of foreigners

When Aziz Ullah returned to China from Europe months ago, he headed straight home to Yiwu, a small city in East China’s Zhejiang Province.

“I feel at home in Yiwu,” said Aziz, 39, from Afghanistan. He has lived in Yiwu for 15 years.

As China’s urban and rural development balances, metropolises such as Beijing are no longer the only places to live and work in for foreigners.

Aziz came to China in 2003 to make money. He chose Yiwu, well known as a production base for small commodities. Yiwu receives more than 400,000 overseas visitors each year and more than 10,000 foreigners live there.

Aziz registered a company in Yiwu in 2005, and has done well. His products, from household furniture to solar panels, are exported to nine countries.

Improvements to small towns are encouraging foreigners to come.

Five years ago, Australian Tim Clancy came to his Chinese wife Chen Shuang’s hometown Pujiang in Zhejiang, for the first time.

“He did not want to stay here for one more day,” Chen said. Tim was always complaining about the pollution.

But the environment has improved a lot. Tim and his wife now live there for several months every year. “We enjoy the beautiful nature and traditional Chinese culture here,” Tim said.

Public services in small towns have also improved, making life there easier. “For example, people can use Alipay [ mobile payment], rather than cash, almost everywhere in the town,” Tim said.