Yiwu Market

Some of us might be familiar with the Yiwu Small Commod-ities Market(义乌小商品城，pictured) in Zhejiang province.

But there is a story behind its origins, according to author Huang Jianguo (黄建国 主编 软实力 硬武器 改变世界的社会科学创新 党建读物出版社 2009).

In 1982, peasant Feng Aiqian (冯爱倩) walked into the Yiwu government office, and demanded to know from Party Secretary Xie Gaohua (谢高华) as to why she was arrested time and again for being a street peddler. Feng argued that she was jobless, and needed to be a street peddler to make ends meet. The argument reportedly lasted the whole afternoon.

Party Secretary Xie eventually tabled two resolutions at the next sitting of the local government - 1) Should trade markets be opened or not? (应不应开放集市贸易市场) and 2) Should peasants be allowed in cities for the purpose of conducting trade and commerce? (允不允许农民进城经商)

This subsequently led to an affirmative answer, and trade by peasants in cities were soon made permissible, even though the author did not indicate how long the process took.

But perhaps this is yet another example that individuals too can make a difference on policy discourse in China.