![Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the world’s largest small-commodities wholesale market in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, in September 2023. [Photo: Xinhua]](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2026/04/23/20260423164217810298.jpeg)
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged officials to treat the development model of Yiwu in Zhejiang province — home to what China calls the world’s largest small-commodities wholesale market — as a benchmark for a “correct view of political achievements.” The concept, which Xi has repeatedly stressed in public, calls for evaluating officials by sustainable, practical results rather than short-term gains or showpiece projects.
According to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday, Xi said in recent instructions that Yiwu’s small-commodities sector “opened up a huge market” and grew into a major industry, forming what he called the “Yiwu development experience.” He praised it as a successful example of developing a county-level economy in line with local conditions.
Xi said the “Yiwu development experience” should be summarized more systematically and used effectively in connection with study and education programs aimed at establishing and practicing the “correct view of political achievements.”
He said regions should build on their own resource advantages, respect grassroots and public creativity, and pursue reform, innovation and concrete implementation. He also called for sustained effort to find high-quality development paths suited to local conditions, and for better alignment with national development strategies.
Xi has shown long-standing interest in Yiwu’s economy, visiting the city 12 times while serving as a party chief in Zhejiang and Shanghai. Xinhua said he personally compiled Yiwu’s development experience at the time and directed that it be studied and promoted among officials, and he has repeatedly cited Yiwu in public remarks.
Yiwu, described as the world’s largest export base for small commodities, is often called a barometer of China’s foreign trade and the global economy because orders and production there are seen as reflecting broader trends.
The Yiwu market covers 6.4 million square meters — about the size of 900 soccer fields — and contains about 1.26 million shops, with trade involving more than 230 countries and regions. The report said many goods tied to the World Cup, U.S. elections and Christmas are produced and exported from Yiwu. It added that the term “Yiwu index” is used because export orders there are sometimes cited to predict outcomes of major international events, such as U.S. election dynamics and World Cup winners.
While Yiwu was held up as a model, the cities of Yichun in Jiangxi province and Nanning in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region were cited as examples of a “wrong view of political achievements” for wasteful investment, the report said.
China Central Television said Tuesday that Hozon New Energy Automobile, the parent company of Chinese electric vehicle maker Neta, posted losses of 18.3 billion yuan over three years and went bankrupt last year. CCTV said Yichun and Nanning poured tens of billions of yuan into attracting a Neta auto plant, including special policies offering subsidies, but the effort ultimately worsened local finances and led to industrial homogenization.
CCTV criticized some local governments for fixating on political achievements, ignoring fiscal realities and relying on borrowing and subsidy competition, while focusing on large short-term projects aimed at visible results.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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