Alex Quinn's Japan Journal
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4/4/2005, China trip day 12: Yiwu, marketplace of cheap goods for exportMy goals for my visit to China included learning about David's business, and seeing some of the workings of society in China. How does business work? How does government work? On Day 3, we toured one of the factories David works with as part of his business. Today, we went to a town called Yiwu. The trip took a few hours each way by bus from Hangzhou. The main feature of Yiwu is a couple large markets where factories and distributors show samples of their goods to people who will buy them for export or for sale in China. It was two big buildings with several floors. On each floor, there are row after row of shops. They don't sell anything retails. They don't carry the stock. They carry one of everything they make or sell. You can ask the prices and place orders for large quantities. We went around and asked the prices of things. A cheap (maybe $5) umbrella was about 53 cents. A fancy globe with stone inlays in different colors was about $6. It would sell for at least $80 in the US. In general, prices were around 5 or 10 percent of what I'd expect to pay in the US. Much of this stuff what the crap you find in the toy or grocery isle of a drug store or grocery store in the United States. Certainly usable, but not top notch. Nothing brand name. Plenty of imitators. Many foreign buyer's from all over the world. It was truly interesting.
We took the bus home. That night, I packed my stuff and we spent one last evening hanging out together. We looked at pictures with Xiujuan (David's girlfriend) in her apartment.
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