Yiwu, a city of two million people 300 kilometers south of Shanghai, has become a crossroads on what has been dubbed a “New Silk Road” between China and the Middle East, attracting more than 200,000 Arab traders each year. 

    "China is becoming easy -- people who cannot speak Chinese or English can come here now,” Ashraf Shahabi, 29, said between greeting customers at his Al-Arabi restaurant lining Yiwu’s Exotic Street. 

    As the United States and Europe tightened visa rules after the 9/11 attacks, China made it easier for Arabs to obtain visas, said Ben Simpfendorfer, Royal Bank of Scotland’s chief China economist, who has studied Chinese-Arab ties.

    Yiwu officials went further. To promote their massive wholesale market, they helped set up a mosque, encouraged Arabic language schools and allowed the city to become home to an estimated 3,000 Arab permanent residents. 

    Mr. Shahabi witnessed the city’s transformation. He left Jordan in 2002 to work in his uncle’s restaurant, then one of Yiwu’s few Arab establishments. He learned Mandarin, started a trading business and married a Chinese woman, who converted to Islam. 

    Events in the post-9/11 world shaped the flow of traders. Afghans were the first to stream into Yiwu, fleeing the horrors of war, followed by even more Iraqis, also escaping the violence of insurgency and a US-led invasion.

    "It’s all because of Futian,” Mr. Shahabi said, using the local name for Yiwu’s sprawling small goods wholesale market. “It’s the biggest market in the world. The quality is not so good, but the price is very good.” 

    The market is a catalogue of everything “Made in China” -- more than 1.7 million products are sold here everyday.

    Traders rely on Chinese guides and translators -- many of them Arabic speakers -- to help navigate and negotiate. 

    More than 60 percent of Yiwu businesses look for Arabic language skills when hiring, according to a labor survey. 

    "Yiwu emphasizes the fact that relations between China and the Middle East are very much the result of individuals,” said Mr. Simpfendorfer, who has documented China’s growing ties to the Arab world in his book, “The New Silk Road.”“There is a tendency to assume commercial relations between China and the Middle East are all about oil ... that’s not the case.”

    Source: AFP

义乌重新打造“丝绸之路”

　　在上海以南约300公里处，有近200万人口的义乌已经成为中国与中东的“新丝绸之路”的十字路口，每年有20多万阿拉伯商人纷至沓来。

　　29岁的阿什拉夫·谢哈比在异国风情街上经营着一家阿拉伯餐馆。他一边与顾客寒暄一边说：“来中国比以前容易了，不会讲汉语和英语的人现在也可以到这儿来。”

　　研究中国与阿拉伯关系的苏格兰皇家银行中国区首席经济学家本·辛芬德费尔说，美国和欧洲在9·11袭击后增加了签证限制，阿拉伯人比较容易获得中国的签证。

　　义乌官员则走得更远。为了给本地的大型批发市场招揽生意，他们帮助建起了清真寺，鼓励开办阿拉伯语学校，让大约3000名阿拉伯人成为了这座城市的永久居民。

　　谢哈比目睹了这座城市的变迁。他于2002年离开约旦，到伯父经营的餐馆打工。当时，那是义乌为数不多的阿拉伯铺面之一。他学会了普通话，开始做生意，还娶了个扳依伊兰教的中国姑娘。

　　9·11事件后的国际形势决定了客商的流动方向。逃避战乱的阿富汗人率先涌入义乌。随后前来的伊拉克人数量更多，也是为了躲避暴力活动和美国的入侵。

　　谢哈比说：“都是因为福田。”他指的是当地的小商品批发市场，“这是全世界最大的市场，质量不算太好，但价格特别便宜”。

　　市场里，“中国制造”的商品应有尽有，每天售出的商品超过170万件。

　　采购过程中，客商们需要中国导购和翻译的帮助。他们当中有许多人会说阿拉伯语。

　　一项劳动力调查显示，义乌有60%以上的企业在招工时要求应聘者会讲一点阿拉伯语。

　　辛芬德费尔在《新丝绸之路》一书中讲述了中国与阿拉伯世界日益紧密的联系。他说：“义乌的现状表明，中国与中东的关系在很大程度上是个体往来的结果。人们倾向于认为中国与中东的商务关系只与石油有关，事实并非如此。”