Almost any American store or home has goods in it made in China, but I never thought I could visit a single place where much of it is sold.

Yiwu International Trade City, a giant wholesale market in Yiwu, China, is the clearinghouse for millions of Chinese-made items.

The market does not generally handle high-end products like Apple iPhones. Rather, it is the source of stuff you find for sale beside the checkout counter in an American store, or in the drawers of your home — such as hairpins, stuffed animals, plastic toys, pots and pans, light bulbs, umbrellas, hammers and press-on nails.


All these products are made by factories in the region, shipped to Yiwu, and soon shipped onward to countries around the world.

The Yiwu market was worth exploring for its own sake, and gave us some insight into the various ways that China's businesspeople are adjusting to U.S. tariffs. You can listen to our experience at the button above and read on below to meet four of the people our team encountered.

The Family Businesswoman
Wang Xiao Nan, left, stands with her mother, Wang Nan, who owns a wholesale hardware shop in one of the market's buildings.


[Edited on 20-8-2025 by Yiwu]