*Continuity and Rupture*, Yiwu Wholesale Market

Written by Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Jupiter Wang

9am in the morning is still too early for the Yiwu International Business & Trade City. In this world’s largest commodity trade market, most shops hasn’t opened their door as they are used to accommodating the Middle Eastern & African time zones. The only noticeable visitors other than me are small groups of Chinese people, normally in pairs, with selfie-sticks in their hands, walking around the relatively empty mall like tourists. My key informant, Daisy, tells me that these people are doing “walking streaming” (Zoubo in Chinese). They casually visit different stores in the giant mall to present various products to their audiences, who can place orders right away through TikTok (Douyin) or Kuaishou, and then the walking streamers will purchase them on the audience’s behalf. There were also “Sit down streamers, all on a small stool with a set of equipment: a cellphone and a fan to cool down the phone after running for extended hours. These streamers don’t even need to show their face, as the audience only care about the products and how low the price could go.

“How would the shop owner allow it?” I am confused with the unwritten rules of this commercial jungle as I am warned not to take too many photos. Daisy replies simply, “Because they had a deal.” In shop owners’ eyes, these streamers are no difference to brokers in the old times but with a cellphone. They still purchase products from the shops and sell them at higher prices on the Internet. With these streamers filling the gap, the shop owners basically run their business in the traditional way when they are unwilling or unable to keep up with the process of platformization.

Scholars in platform studies touch upon the debate between continuity and rupture: how new the technology actually is and how big of the change that technology has brought to society.

During COVID-19, everyone in Yiwu was so desperate to catch up with e-commerce as god knows how long the border would remain closed. Now Yiwu seemed to be back to the good old days - but for how long?