Transforming from a small town of petty peddling into a globally renowned "world's supermarket", Yiwu has charted an extraordinary path of development. Once an obscure and impoverished county in the central region of Zhejiang province, it has risen to become a pivotal node in the Belt and Road Initiative business circle.

On June 8, 2006, during a research visit to Hengtang village, Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Zhejiang Provincial Committee, comprehensively elaborated on the "Yiwu development experience" for the first time.

In April 2026, Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks in an instruction that Yiwu's small commodities have broken into a vast market and developed into a major industry, forming the "Yiwu development experience". He said that this represents a successful model for developing county economies in line with local conditions, urging efforts to guide all regions to leverage their own resource endowments and explore high-quality development paths suited to their own conditions.

Over the past two decades, the local people's congresses of Zhejiang province, Jinhua city and Yiwu city have earnestly implemented Xi's important instructions. By using the rule of law to safeguard reform, oversight to promote implementation and democracy to pool public wisdom, they have translated the institutional advantages of the people's congress system into effective governance for the county economy.

Legislation as a safeguard for reform

Between 2002 and 2007, Xi visited Yiwu multiple times. He acutely observed that its rapid growth lacked matching institutional support. Reform was imperative. With his personal attention and support, Yiwu embarked on systemic reforms. In November 2006, Zhejiang issued a pilot reform plan, delegating 603 items of economic and social management functions from the provincial government to municipal authorities. This broke the administrative constraints of "small county governing a massive market", setting the stage for Yiwu's ongoing reform.

In March 2011, Yiwu became the first county-level city in China approved by the State Council as a pilot zone for comprehensive reform. One of its key tasks was to explore a new trade model suited for small commodity exports.

Once the approval was granted, Yiwu moved swiftly. Yiwu Customs pioneered the "market procurement" trade, opening green channels and streamlining inspection processes. Within a month of implementation, registered foreign trade companies surged by over 1,000. In 2012, $11.93 billion worth of small commodities were exported through Yiwu Customs, exceeding the $10 billion mark for the first time. From September 2012 to June 2013, export growth exceeded 150 percent year-on-year for 10 consecutive months, with "market procurement" trade accounting for 78 percent of exports.

To solidify and expand these gains, the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress passed a decision in November 2012 to support and promote the pilot reform in Yiwu. It stipulated that the provincial government should urge relevant departments to delegate approval authority to Yiwu and allowed the provincial government to adjust or suspend the implementation of certain administrative licenses relating to economic affairs within the city. This decision served as a "legal pass" for Yiwu's bold experiments and enabled Yiwu's pioneering reforms to proceed steadily under the rule of law.

In April 2013, eight ministries including the Ministry of Commerce officially authorized Yiwu to conduct pilot market procurement trade. By 2024, this innovation had been replicated in 39 markets across 22 provinces, benefiting 2.1 million small, medium and micro enterprises.

In November 2019, the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress issued the Regulations for Yiwu International Trade Comprehensive Reform Pilot Zone, which took effect on Jan 1, 2020. As Zhejiang's first local regulation tailored for a county-level city, it represented the collective effort of three levels of people's congresses.

In 2022, the Regulations for China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone was revised, explicitly stipulating that the Jinyi Area would be built into the "world's capital of small commodities" and formally integrating Yiwu's opening-up and development into the provincial legal framework for free trade zones.

"The provincial legislation promptly institutionalized the well-proven outcomes in Yiwu's international trade reform," said Wu Enyu, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee. "It has provided a legal safeguard for further deepening reform and offered an institutional reference for county-level opening-up and development across the province and beyond."

The Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress issues one decision and two regulations to bolster the development of Yiwu as "Small Commodity Market". [Infographic/ Li Hongxing and Wan Ya'nan]

Oversight in step with market

As commerce surged, Yiwu's inland location increasingly constrained its development. To overcome these limitations, the East China International Intermodal Port was designed to open up the city to the world.

Spanning over 63,000 mu (approximately 4,200 hectares), the port has mapped out 65 projects for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), with a total investment of 36.05 billion yuan ($5.34 billion). By 2027, it is expected to be a world-class land port hub and an open inland gateway, helping Yiwu evolve into a global nexus for logistics, trade, capital and information flows.

From 2022 to 2026, the Standing Committee of the Jinhua Municipal People's Congress aligned its work with the municipal Party committee’s vision to build the city into a high-level inland hub city for opening up. Each year, it selected a "No 1 Motion" to define its priorities and adopted a combined approach of inspections, decisions on major matters and special inquiries to advance the implementation of the motion.

In 2023, the Standing Committee of the Jinhua Municipal People's Congress conducts a special inquiry focused on the construction of the International Land Port Hub. [Photo provided by Jinhua Municipal People's Congress]

According to Chen Fengqi, deputy director of the Jinhua Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, over the past five years, the municipal legislature has conducted numerous inspections and oversight through research visits, hearings and special inquiries. Regular inspections and follow-up oversight prompted related departments to provide proactive services and work in closer coordination. Deputies have engaged extensively with industries and enterprises to reflect their concerns and aspirations, ensuring that the development of projects is rooted in solid public opinion and market needs.

At the end of 2024, an assembly center of the China-Europe Railway Express in Jinhua (Yiwu) was approved, accelerating the development of the East China International Port. Yiwu thus took a critical step in integrating into the Belt and Road international logistics network.

Over the past two decades, the Yiwu Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee has conducted multi-faceted oversight on market planning, development, management, logistics and digital transformation. Its sustained oversight has remained in lockstep with the market's growth every step of the way.

Feng Kang, deputy director of the Budget Working Committee of the Yiwu Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, said that over these 20 years, the Yiwu Municipal People's Congress has conducted 190 oversight activities related to the market, heard 36 special reports, organized 29 themed inspection tours by deputies and held 11 sessions of face-to-face governance inquiries. Launched in 2014 during the annual session of the Yiwu Municipal People's Congress, this signature face-to-face governance inquiry program has since expanded from TV studios to grassroots liaison stations, totaling 35 sessions to date.

Beyond the local level, the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee has targeted practical challenges facing Yiwu's businesses, such as the international expansion of SMEs and financing against overseas assets, promoting the introduction of supporting policies to address them.

The Jinhua Municipal People's Congress has conducted special oversight on the building of a law-based government for seven consecutive years, building a system of "special oversight plus legal safeguards plus upgraded services", while strengthening budget performance supervision on the implementation of policies supporting the private sector. Meanwhile, the standing committees of the provincial, municipal and county-level people's congresses jointly carried out enforcement inspections on the regulations of Zhejiang province on optimizing the business environment. Through these coordinated efforts, a solid legal shield has been built to safeguard the business environment.

In August 2025, the Standing Committee of the Yiwu Municipal People's Congress holds a face-to-face governance inquiry centered on fully advancing Yiwu comprehensive reform of international trade. [Photo provided by Yiwu Municipal People's Congress]

Democracy building a home for global merchants

In Yiwu, the "world's supermarket", one in every three people is a non-local worker. Though their backgrounds differ, they share a common sentiment: In this city, voices are heard, opinions can be voiced and problems get solved.

In 2001, Yiwu's 570,000 non-local population made up nearly half of the city's total population. Acting in accordance with the provincial rules for elections of deputies to the county and township people's congresses, the Yiwu Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee decided to include eligible non-local residents in the electoral roll.

That year, seven non-local workers from Jiangxi, Anhui and Guizhou were elected as deputies to the 13th People's Congress of Dachen Town, the first group of township-level deputies directly elected from the migrant population in Zhejiang, and indeed a pioneering move nationwide. At the end of 2002, 11 non-local workers were elected as deputies to the Yiwu Municipal People's Congress, a number that has remained steady at around 10 each term ever since.

In 2003, Yiwu established a system allowing citizens and foreign residents to sit in on the sessions of the municipal people's congress. This was expanded in 2006 to include non-local workers. To date, 232 non-local workers, 221 local residents and over 80 foreign businesspeople have attended the sessions of the municipal people's congress as non-voting participants and submitted more than 830 suggestions. These have been categorized, assigned to relevant departments and reported back within a set timeframe.

In January 2026, delivery drivers were invited to sit in on the session for the first time, engaging in discussions on community delivery access, courier station services and workers' rights.

Expats have also settled down in Yiwu. In Jimingshan community of the Jiangdong subdistrict, 1,388 foreign residents from 74 countries and regions live alongside people from 30 different ethnic groups among a population of just 30,000, forming a "United Nations-like community". Mfadi Diab Al Shara, a Syrian businessman who has been in Yiwu for over 20 years, actively participates in legislative research and consultation. "In Yiwu, I have found a home and built everything I have. I am willing to contribute to making this big family even better," he said, echoing the feelings of many foreign merchants.

In July 2025, over 40 students from countries including Germany and Italy visit the legislative liaison station in Jimingshan community during a summer exchange tour to learn about the practice of whole-process people's democracy. [Photo provided by Yiwu Municipal People's Congress]

In July 2020, the Standing Committee of the Yiwu Municipal People's Congress was designated by the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress as a national grassroots legislative outreach office, the first of its kind in Zhejiang. It has built an extensive network of 37 legislative liaison stations, 47 consultation units and over 12,000 information collectors, spreading across towns, villages, communities and industries.

To date, Yiwu's grassroots legislative outreach office has solicited opinions on 67 drafts, involving 145,000 participants and gathering over 5,100 suggestions, of which 303 had been adopted. It has also collected opinions on 71 provincial regulations, submitting 1,291 suggestions, with 113 adopted.

In 2024, after visiting the Yiwu legislative outreach office, Nelly Mutti, speaker of Zambia's National Assembly, remarked with admiration, "It is truly remarkable that grassroots citizens can participate so extensively in making the laws and govern their country. This practice is worth learning from."

Yiwu's leapfrog development is a microcosm of the rise of China's county economies and a vivid example of translating the strengths of the people's congress system into effective grassroots governance. Here, respecting market principles goes hand in hand with safeguarding people's well-being, and a correct understanding of governance performance is reflected in the effective functioning of the city.