Yiwu
made an historic breakthrough in terms of economic and social
development, thanks to a development strategy based upon the commerce promotion which supports
the cities development.
The urban area
thus enlarged, from 2,8 km² in
1984 to its present urban area of about 18km².
Streets, peripheries and expressway networks have been developed,
respecting the idea of a "green city": today, there are about 11m²
of
public garden per inhabitant in Yiwu.
When
the Municipality of Yiwu created the "Yiwu
Small Commodity City" in 1982, it was plannd for Yiwu to become the
place for a small commodities international business centre.
Yiwu
has been awarded many times, for its economic and social development as
well as for the results of its original ambition to become the supermarket of the world for small
commodities, a paradise for foreign traders from all over the world.
The
construction of public facilities has logically followed the commercial
development of Yiwu. The city thus constructed an airport with a 4C-grade, that
proposes to serve a dozen of domestic destinations, like Beijing
(Peking),
Guangzhou (Canton), Shantou, Weifang or Shenzhen.
Furthermore, Yiwu is located in the middle of the rail road between
the Zhejiang province and the Jiangxi province (lines
Shanghai-Hangzhou-Nanchang or
Shanghai-Hangzhou-Guangzhou for instance).
At last, the new Yiwu bus
station was built in the Binwang area, it offers more than 1300
departures daily to more than 100 cities of all sizes.
So, Yiwu seems
to have accomplished its audacious bet to become a modern middle-sized city.