Greetings from Dongxiang City, China

Happy May Day Weekend.. hope you have Spring in the air and a Spring in your step.

Last week I was telling you about my arrival in China at Shanghai, where I met up with Coco (my wife and your China agent) and we hung out in the coolest (we think) neighbourhood in Shanghai - I was telling you about the profound changes there.. if you missed it you can catch up here.

From Shanghai we took the fast train to Yiwu, travelling in business class it was super pleasant. Airline style reclining seats, loads of space, free snacks, fruit and soft drinks and almost flying across the country on overhead rails at 300+ km/h. Yiwu station used to be a hassle where you shuffled sheeplike through tunnels and turnstiles to get out and then had to hustle for a taxi. Now there is a large underground taxi stand directly beneath the station, and a super efficient queuing system, within two minutes you are on the way to town.

Most people in China (including Coco) will tell you that despite covid and everything else things are getting better and better in China. In many many ways things are getting better since I was last here.. but some things are not.
It was amazing to be reunited with my wife and her son, wife and kids.. who live in a new super modern, hi-tech apartment on the outskirts of Yiwu. They relocated during the pandemic and this of course is (apart from video tours) my first sight of them and the apartment. There are forty low rise blocks - seven floors each in the development. Underground parking and beautiful gardens between the blocks. It's maybe (by my estimate) about 10% occupied - although if you ask the sales office they tell you everything sold out. The super posh development next door is also sold out but I can see almost no lights on at all... strange.

The big problem I have is internet connection.. it was always a bit of a problem in China but the solution was to use a VPN to get round the fire walls.. now I'm fighting a running battle all the time to get connected to the internet.. I have five devises, two sim cards, two VPN's hotlinks to Coco's mobile, and of course the house Wifi.. Now even with the VPN connected I can lose connection to google after a few minutes, (BBC in seconds) and the connection will drop totally.. often I'm offline (outside China) totally for hours at a time. Someone told me that it's reginal - the fire wall policy is dictated nationally but different places interpret it harshly or softly. And this is true. 

So one of the first jobs is to connect with our old suppliers, and many of them have showrooms in or around the massive Yiwu market. 88,000 showrooms under one roof.. it's mind boggling huge.. but organised into Area's specialising in various (what they call) small commodities. Area 1 and the main entrance to the whole grand place - It houses on the ground floor the cheap and tacky plastic flower department, one floor up is hairbands, scrunchies and small flashing objects department. On the third floor is the home of general giftware, and all things bad taste. The top floor is more posh with big flashy show rooms for the big flashy companies. 

Haha - I'm kind of exaggerating - in amongst the plastic and bad taste are some very arty and ethical family businesses many of which we have done good business with for over ten years. Regular readers will know we avoid the faceless factories accessed only via agents, and try to deal with real people.. like our lovely Soap Flower lady.. Xiao Pao who works exclusively with just a couple of Japanese companies and Ancient Wisdom.

We also went to visit Tina and her arty husband (Tina is the boss) who make quite a lot of the Gemstone Jewellery we sell. They closed the showroom in the market in the pandemic, and now just work from the factory come studio, where they work hard at making new designs and mostly market to the Chinese market online. Their biggest customer outside China is AW.. and we spent a day with them and in the evening had a local Yiwu food meal. It was really nice to catch up.

The first words every one exclaims is "Haojiu bujian"  or Long Time No See! And they certainly seem very pleased to see me.

Many suppliers are telling us that the Europe and USA trade has dropped by 80% but Middle Eastern, African and Russian trade is replacing it. The type of products on display in the showrooms reflect this.. to western eyes bad taste and golden flashy stuff is back front and centre. Massive wheels are moving, who knows how a new world order will pan out. 

Now we just arrived in Dongxiang city, five hours drive down the G60 - it's a major holiday (May 1st) and we wanted to get here before the massive traffic. When I first came here it was a poor backwater city with muddy streets and poor lighting, that very rarely saw westerners, I was spectacularly strange, and quickly became famous in town - haha drawing crowds of people who wanted to try out their English with me. Now the city has a beautiful lake with a park, wide clean streets and smart shops.. lots of good restaurants. In the evening families, kids and old people hang out on the brightly lit streets chatting and playing.. Coco knows many people - the ones that like her sisters and parents have moved from the villages to the city and bought smart apartments. Many have small businesses and trade seems good. An import wine shop has opened close to close by and sells Chilian and Argentinian wine at reasonable prices. The shop assistant who could speak good English was so excited.. I was the first western customer to come in the shop.. I was granted "Friends discount" and treated like a royal visitor. 

There is clearly a lot of new money in Dongxiang - Porches and Mercs are common.. nice restaurants and expensive shops - all despite the pandemic. But I quickly realise why.. this city main factories are medical supplies and pharmaceuticals.. I let you figure out what happened.

Anyway more news next week.

If You are looking for the best wholesale gifts, look no further and click here.

Hope you have a wonderful May Day and may spring sunshine bless you and your business.