Yiwu a Muslim trading post

Yiwu, a non-descript town in the heart of Zhejiang, one of the more industrialized provinces of China, looks more and more like a middle eastern city. Shops names are written in arabic and the restaurants, often run by Hui (muslim) Chinese, advertise halal food. At the day's end, a muezzin call reachs out from the newly built Great Mosque. Traders from Muslim countries ? North Africa, Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where there is hardly any manufacturing - are coming here in thousands...
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Yiwu, a non-descript town in the heart of Zhejiang, one of the more industrialized provinces of China, looks more and more like a middle eastern city. Shops names are written in arabic and the restaurants, often run by Hui (muslim) Chinese, advertise halal food. At the day's end, a muezzin call reachs out from the newly built Great Mosque. Traders from Muslim countries ? North Africa, Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where there is hardly any manufacturing - are coming here in thousands since the mid-1990's, attracted by a market that offers them any type of commodity at affordable prices and easy connections with the container ports of Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo. The city has today a resident Muslim population of more than 7000 people..Customers at the entrance of Futian International Trade City.
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