Photo of the day: Funky Head Accessories in Yiwu

Continuing this week’s photo theme — Things in Yiwu.

Though the Zhejiang city is small by China-city standards, its commercial clout is such that it autonomously strikes bilateral trade deals in Eastern Europe:

A Chinese international trade city may be set up in the village of Bolbasovo, Orsha District. The project was discussed during a meeting between Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Nikolai Snopkov and a Chinese delegation led by First Deputy Chairman of the People’s Government of Yiwu, Zhejiang Province Chen Xiaozhong on 17 August [2017]… “As the sales grow, the production of popular goods might be relocated from China to Belarus,” the head of the Belarusian company said. “Belarus will become the second European country where Zhejiang will undertake a similar project. The first one was implemented near Warsaw in 2016,” he added.

Radii’s founder Brian Wong recently led a student group around Yiwu’s massive wholesale market and discovered that one product class that might be absorbed in this shifting production ecosystem is: funky head accessories.

This is kind of a big thing in China, subject to the whims and vagaries of fashion. A few years ago bean sprouts clipped to your dome were in. The classic rabbit ear headband has never quite gone out of style among the kids cruising up and down Beijing’s tourist alleys such as Nanluoguxiang.

Naturally, these things are wholesaled in Yiwu.