Yiwu Yi vendors see blessing in disguise di

China’s foreign trade has grown agai against global trend, becoming a driving force for the world economy with booming orders from overseas despite the COVID- 19 pandemic disruptions – we all know about that, which logically makes sense but neve never appeared to me in reality, until I visited Yiwu, East China’s Zhejiang Province in December, the place that dubbed the “world supermarket” for small commodities for a closer inspection of how China’s suppliers adapt them themselves to the new change on trading businesses from inches away.

While I was expecting people visiting stalls and bargaining for a deal at the Christmas booths as the holiday season came near,

the center as a whole was much quieter and desolate when I arrived, with my colleagues and I quickly became the center of attention.

As the COVID- 19 continues to spread across the globe, Yiwu vendors have long adjusted their tone toward e- commerce. In several stalls that I visited, vendors were sitting in front of computers actively expanding their customer base, selling directly to foreign customers via livestreaming on Facebook. Be

fore for f th the coronavirus na outbreak, they th had been busily bu talking with dozens of v visiting clients and now they can sit in front of computers com and reach out to even more.

In order to enable local busi- nesses to get on the e- commerce express faster, the center has launched a website Chinagoods. com to help them provide one- stop cross- border logistics service, online exhibition and market information updates to international customers. To reach a wider range of customers, vendors are learning French, Spanish and English to expand business into African and South American markets.