භාෂාවෙත්, තාක්ෂණයෙත් හයිය ගන්න යීවූ වෙළෙන්ඳන්

Yiwu merchants learn foreign languages and AI to connect to global customers

Wholesale traders in the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu, a major production center for consumer goods, are spending more time on learning foreign languages and harness the power of artificial intelligence to boost their businesses and expand their global reach.

Yiwu International Trade City is the largest wholesale market in the world. According to official data, 80 percent of the mascots for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games were made in China, and most of them came from Yiwu.

Early in the morning in the Yiwu International Trade City and most of the shops are still closed. But already people are gathering in an English Corner to learn English together. They are Yiwu merchants who have built thriving business empires that have made many of them millionaires or even billionaires.

"When we see international traders coming, we will chat with them, and they may stay longer in our shops," said Bi Qiaochen, a merchant who trades from Yiwu International Trade City.

Average daily passenger flow in the trade city reached 210,000 in the first quarter of 2024, with about 3,500 foreign traders there for business every day. In addition, more than 20,000 international businessmen are resident in Yiwu.

"I will practice the new words that the teacher taught us every day to review them. Now these are so popular, they are called "lucky beads" in English. And these are called 'bracelets'," she said.

The free English Corner lessons have been running for 17 years and about 500,000 people have taken part. Most of the merchants engaging in foreign trade can speak English, and many of them can speak other foreign languages.

Some Yiwu merchants come to continue their learning in a free Spanish Corner after dinner.

Its founder Loli lived in Spain for more than 20 years. She established this free Spanish practice camp in 2022, while also running her own business to import Spanish wine and goods to China.

"Because many bosses now do business in Spanish-speaking countries, there is great demand to learn Spanish. There are also many foreigners who come to our Spanish Corner to study and practice Chinese. Our atmosphere is so good," she said.

In the typical model of family-operated businesses in Yiwu, wives usually manage stores and negotiate directly with foreign buyers, while their husbands oversee nearby factories.

That's why these women are taking foreign language courses as they see themselves as the bridge connecting Yiwu and the world.

In addition to learning foreign languages by themselves, Yiwu merchants are also learning how to use AI technologies in their businesses.

They use the Artificial Intelligence (AI) service platform developed by Yiwu market organizers, the first AI product for foreign trade businesses in China to promote products in other languages.

One such trailblazer is Sun Lijuan, who manages a toy store in Yiwu. Most of her customers are from the Middle East and Latin America.

"We usually use this AI platform on Chinagoods.com to generate advertising videos in 33 different languages. It’s so fast. Creating these product detail pages by AI within a few minutes also saves us a lot of time and money," Sun said.

"We have released this AI service since last October. Over 90 percent of merchants in Yiwu trade market use this. We are still developing more new features such as AI-host live streaming, so that some businesses without language capabilities can also do foreign trade, and AI can support enterprises going overseas," said Zhang Yafang, operation manager of the new media platform at Chinagoods.com.

The European Football Championship, or Euro 2024, is now in full swing, and the Paris Olympic Games is only four weeks away. Products including bracelets, jerseys and trophies from Yiwu have been shipped to Europe and other parts of the world in batches.

Foreign buyers are also here buying other sports products.

"My family has come here before. From the past 10 to 15 years, they've been coming to China. Yiwu is famous for consumption products, like final consumer products. So it's fast for us to come here and make a purchase than to go to a specific city," said a trader from India.

Ye Demo, chair of Jinzun Trophy Co., Ltd., is working overtime at the factory to rush out export orders.

"Due to the Paris Olympic Games, we have had a 30 percent increase in sales from January, and a sales peak in May. During each major sporting event, there will be many local places organizing sports events, which brings an increase in trophy sales," said Ye.

In the first five months of this year, the export volume for sports goods and equipment from Yiwu stood at 4.1 billion yuan (about 565 million U.S. dollars), with an increase of over 44 percent on a yearly basis.

In June, the shipments for the Paris Olympic Games are coming to an end, but traders are already taking orders for this year's Christmas season.

Empowered by advanced technologies and a global outlook, they not only do business around the world, but also let the world see the Yiwu spirit of fighting and exploration.

"A woman has very big business like this, I'm proud of you," said a customer, praising the female owner of a wholesale trade company.

"We welcome more and more foreign traders coming to Yiwu," Bi said.

"We sell our goods to people all around the world, doing business with everyone on Earth!" said another merchant.

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