Almost a third of the world’s supply of socks comes from Zhejiang province, and Yiwu is home to some of the biggest sock manufacturers.

Traditional shipping lines were once the only mode of export. But now, manufacturers are making a switch due to the increased speed of rail transport.

Socks are just one of the many exports originating from this small inland city. The majority of the world’s low-cost consumables come from here — Yiwu’s “International Trade City.”

This is where any imaginable knick-knack in the world can be found. Many contact third party dealers to help them source for the best products and prices in the trade city. The goods will then be checked by suppliers, and once they pass quality control, they will be loaded into containers and transported across 13,000 kilometers overland to Europe, beginning their great cross-Eurasia journey, taking 16 days.

With new rail routes being established, trade across the Eurasian continent from China to Europe represents a new era of connectivity. From here, we see the history of the Silk Road — those cities that can adapt, that can evolve, those are the ones that survive.