"We Don't Celebrate Christmas, We Make it" - China's X-mas City
Source: OT-Team(S,J), Jiemian.com, Paper.cn
At the Rotterdam Film Festival in early 2020, a documentary "Merry Christmas, Yiwu" from Serbian director Mladen Kovacevic appeared on the screen. The documentary focused on the workers in the Christmas commodity factories. They are either young people who have left their hometowns to work in Yiwu, or old people in nearby villages. Those who sew with hands and operated machines by themselves to produce Christmas products for people all over the world. And bring the world "happiness" and "warmth" during Christmas.
△Workers in the Christmas goods factories are making Christmas hats and snowmen, Picture From "Merry Christmas, Yiwu"
Yiwu - The world's largest distribution center for small commodities
According to statistics, Chinese factories have produced up to 90% of the world’s Christmas products at the highest record. Most of the factories were located Yiwu, a city in Zhejiang Province that with a population less than 1.9 million.
Yiwu is one of the six strongest counties (cities) in China and one of the wealthiest regions in China. It was on the top of 10 richest county-level cities in China in Forbes ranking list 2013.
In 2019, the German media "Frankfurt Review" also published an article mentioning that nearly two-thirds of Christmas decorations in the world come from the same Chinese city.
"It looks like a huge Christmas market: plastic Christmas trees are covered with small decorations such as Christmas balls, cherubs and Christmas stars, and Christmas items such as nutcrackers, reindeer sleighs, electronic candles and so on are dazzling. "Merry Christmas" is written in various languages... This is the Christmas market in Yiwu, eastern China, where 60% of the world's Christmas decorations are provided."
△Red lanterns for the Spring Festival next to the Christmas tree, Screenshot from "Merry Christmas, Yiwu"
“The real hometown of Christmas is actually Yiwu”- Tim Maughan (BBC)
After his visit of the distribution center in Yiwu in 2014, Tim Maughan recorded that:
"My location is a few hours away from Shanghai by car. I haven't seen the sun for 3 hours, and completely lost my way. I have tried to get out of this place for 45 minutes, but everywhere in this huge maze of corridors and shops looks the same. I am surrounded by artificial Christmas trees, trinkets, artificial snow, Santa hats, and LED animated reindeer.
△Before COVID Epidemic, clients from other countries order Christmas decoration products in the distribution center
All I hear is festive music. I am rapped in the worst Christmas nightmare, and now it is a hot and stuffy summer day in August. For a moment, I felt like I could never get out. I was destined to be in another world and spend the rest of my life with Santa."
"They produce Christmas items for billions of people worldwide. The roar of machines replaces the jingle bells. That is the Christmas gospel of businessmen in Yiwu ."
As a city that had been busy for Christmas all year round, business in Yiwu also slowed down under the influence of the COVID epidemic. The "magic" city, one of the wealthiest in China, is going through an unprecedented moment. In response to this desolation, the new form of "live streaming sales" has rapidly emerged in Yiwu. This seems to be a new stage, and the Christmas story of Yiwu will be more wonderful.