Wholesale city riding wave of e-commerce

The biggest market for small commodities in eastern China is going online for business expansion, reports Meng Jing in Yiwu, Zhejiang

If China is the world's factory, then Yiwu, about three hours' drive from Shanghai, is its wholesale market. Even those who have never heard of Yiwu might own a few items - handbags, shoes, some accessories - from there.

The small city in East China's Zhejiang province is home to China Commodities City, a sprawling place with as many as 75,000 vendors, which has been named by the United Nations, the World Bank and others as the " largest small commodity wholesale market" in the world.