Yiwu Development Experience Continues to Guide Chinas County Economic Planning

Defining the Yiwu Model: Two Decades of Growth

The Yiwu Development Experience traces its origins to the early 2000s, when then-Zhejiang provincial leader Xi Jinping conducted 11 research trips to the city. By 2006, the initiative was formalized into a systematic six-point framework, which included prioritizing “兴商建市” (prospering business to build the city), industrial integration, urban-rural coordination, harmonious development, rich cultural heritage, and proactive government involvement. On June 8, 2006, Xi Jinping visited Hengtang Village in Yiwu to chair a symposium, where he provided a profound interpretation of the development model.

According to reporting from CCTV, the city’s rise from a resource-poor, landlocked county to a global trade hub was driven by the chicken feather for sugar merchant tradition, which has persisted for hundreds of years. By adapting to market needs, Yiwu evolved into a world supermarket that now hosts millions of types of products across 26 major categories. The city’s export scale currently leads all county-level districts in China, with total import and export values reaching 8365亿元 in 2025, as noted by state media. Today, Yiwu’s trade network covers more than 230 countries and regions.

Strategic Implementation in the "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan"

As China enters the opening year of the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan, the central government is pushing for a broader application of these local successes. People’s Daily reports that the focus of this renewed push is to encourage local officials to move away from generic development templates and instead prioritize locally appropriate paths. This involves aligning regional strengths—whether agricultural, industrial, or commercial—with national objectives. The strategy emphasizes that local leaders should avoid one-size-fits-all approaches, instead focusing on what each region is best suited for, whether that be grain, agriculture, industry, or commerce.

The strategy explicitly warns against the practice of local governments frequently shifting development goals. Reporting indicates that the core of this policy is the “relay race” philosophy: leaders are expected to maintain consistency in successful strategies rather than pursuing short-term vanity projects. This is described as a fundamental component of a correct political performance view, where the primary goal remains the long-term benefit of the local population. As Xi Jinping noted during his time in Zhejiang, The development experience of Yiwu fully illustrates that for regional economic development strategies that have been proven correct through practice, we must maintain consistency, passing the ‘baton’ from one term to the next without changing course.

Regional Adoption: The Case of Wuhan

The directive is already influencing policy beyond Zhejiang. In late April 2026, the Wuhan Municipal Committee held a meeting specifically to study the Yiwu experience and integrate its methods into the city’s economic agenda.省委常委 (Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee) and 市委书记 (Municipal Party Secretary) 盛阅春 presided over the meeting, emphasizing the following objectives:

• Systematically upgrading the Hanzheng Street market and the Hankou North market to boost quality and efficiency.
• Leveraging Wuhan’s status as a key node in the “Belt and Road” initiative to improve logistics and open-up functions.
• Streamlining administrative services and deepening reforms in state-owned enterprises to foster a more business-friendly environment that aligns with a unified national market.

This adaptation demonstrates the central government’s desire to see coastal trade successes translated into inland development models, effectively using Yiwu as a pedagogical tool for regional governance.

The Balance of Government and Market Forces

A central tension in the Yiwu experience is the relationship between the visible hand of government and the invisible hand of the market. According to source material, the model functions on a loop where grassroots innovation is identified by the public, refined by government policy, and then scaled up through precise empowerment. This approach is intended to ensure that reforms remain grounded in actual economic utility rather than theoretical planning. Since the start of its new round of international trade comprehensive reform, Yiwu has pioneered over 40 national and provincial “firsts.”

Moving forward, the emphasis remains on digital trade integration. As of October 2025, the Yiwu Global Digital Trade Center—the sixth generation of the city’s market—has begun operations. In this new infrastructure, shops function as live-streaming rooms, and the business ecosystem is integrated into the physical layout of the market.

Sources: People.