The 15th Five-Year Plan proposed to "support the development of new business forms and models such as cross-border e-commerce." 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of my country's comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, and this new form of foreign trade has become an important engine driving my country's trade growth.
In Yiwu, Zhejiang, Tu Hongming, a post-80s entrepreneur, has been deeply involved in the cross-border e-commerce industry for ten years. From having only 500 yuan in savings to now having annual sales of 2 billion yuan, how did he grow his foreign trade business so big in ten years? Let's step into his world and see what makes his business acumen so unique.
On the eve of the 2026 New Year, Tu Hongming's warehouse in Yiwu, Zhejiang, was operating at full capacity almost every day.
The period around the New Year is the busiest time for e-commerce platforms. The current "warehouse overload" has become a sweet trouble for Tu Hongming.
2025 will mark the 10th year that Tu Hongming, a young man from Hubei, has been starting his business in Yiwu. In a 3,000-square-meter office building on the first floor of downtown Yiwu, he runs a cross-border e-commerce platform.
The product selection area, procurement area, and operations area are filled with the sounds of keyboards and mice.
In the product display area, a Malaysian livestreamer fluent in seven languages is recording a short video; in the adjacent photography studio, staff are shooting footage for a newly launched makeup product; and next door, a Moroccan girl is busy livestreaming to sell products.
Moroccan livestreamer Aylene: The revenue from livestreaming is quite good. Here, I can feel my own value.
Health supplements, beauty and skincare products, and various types of clothing are the three best-selling categories on Tu Hongming's platform. Currently, his e-commerce platform is sourcing goods for millions of sellers worldwide.
Tu Hongming, co-founder of Yiwu Cujia Trading Co., Ltd. in Zhejiang Province: In the first year after the system went online, we achieved 200 million yuan in sales, and we expect to exceed 2 billion yuan by 2025.
With annual sales exceeding 2 billion yuan, a figure that Tu Hongming couldn't even dream of ten years ago.
Qingyanliu Village in Yiwu is known as "China's No. 1 Online Store Village." This is also where Tu Hongming's dream began. In 2015, he came to Qingyanliu with 500 yuan, rented a one-bedroom apartment with his partner, and thus began his entrepreneurial journey.
He showed us an old photo from the company's first team-building event. The banner held by the colleagues in the front row had no words on it.
Tu Hongming, co-founder of Yiwu Cujia Trading Co., Ltd. in Zhejiang Province: We wanted to save money by using a banner that a neighboring company had used. We planned to use the back of the banner for photo editing, hoping to save money on the banner itself. However, the photo turned out too wrinkled, and the photo editing didn't look good, so we didn't edit it.
Not only did he have to be careful with every penny, but during the most difficult times, due to the low volume of freight, no logistics company was willing to pick up the packages. Tu Hongming had to ride his bicycle for more than an hour each day to pick up and ship the goods.
In 2015, at a crucial time when the country was vigorously promoting comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce and encouraging the digital transformation of trade, Tu Hongming seized the opportunity to ride the fast train of my country's rapid development in cross-border e-commerce. In 2018, he and his team launched their cross-border e-commerce platform. From initially operating only the single category of "jewelry," Tu Hongming's platform has now gathered over 100 million Chinese products, with an average of nearly 200,000 orders shipped from his warehouse to all parts of the world every day.
Tu Hongming, co-founder of Yiwu Cujia Trading Co., Ltd. in Zhejiang Province: Back then, there were no dedicated shipping lines, only ePacket. It took us about 25 days to ship to the United States. Now, it only takes 7 days at the fastest.
Behind the speed reduction from 25 days to 7 days lies a powerful logistics network: 26 "Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe" freight train routes cover more than 160 cities in Eurasia. Air freight directly connects to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. In June 2025, the Yiwu (Suxi) International Hub Port opened, linking with Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, and the network of express sea routes is becoming increasingly dense: the "Yiwu-Ningbo-Zhoushan Port-Port William" European express route will reduce transit time from 40 days to 26 days; the "Yiwu-Ningbo-Zhoushan Port-Dubai Port" Middle East express route will shorten freight time from 23 days to 17 days. Not only are there more and more options for shipping goods overseas, but customs clearance efficiency is also constantly improving.
Gu Dehui, Deputy Director of Yiwu Customs: In October 2025, we launched the "inspection before shipment" model, which reduced the turnaround time for export goods from two to three days to within one day. We also took the lead in the country to achieve "fully automated release" for small commodity exports, shortening the card passage time to 18 seconds.
Behind these figures lies not only a leap in logistics and customs clearance efficiency, but also a concentrated manifestation of the resilience and innovation of China's manufacturing supply chain. In the Yiwu International Trade City, you'll see many unassuming "little items" that represent bold innovations on traditional products, born from a keen understanding of market demand. A seemingly ordinary doll is actually a companion smart toy; a seemingly ordinary ring not only combines all the functions of a watch but also monitors health data; and a seemingly ordinary sun hat integrates solar charging and fan cooling, becoming a sensation on international social media platforms. From design and development to manufacturing, all these products are completed in China, with new product prototypes reaching mass production in as little as seven days.
Tu Hongming, co-founder of Yiwu Cujia Trading Co., Ltd. in Zhejiang Province: From automobiles to a needle, China has all kinds of supply chain products. From raw materials to production, we can say that we have a closed loop in China.
Thanks to its well-developed supply chain and intelligent manufacturing, Yiwu's goods are no longer synonymous with "low price." More and more foreign trade companies are realizing that only by "going global with their brands" can they take the initiative. In 2025, Tu Hongming's team took another significant step, moving beyond simply providing cross-border e-commerce platform services to operating their own cosmetics and apparel brands, creating something truly their own. Simultaneously, they established an overseas warehouse in Nigeria and launched a cross-border e-commerce website specifically targeting the African market.
Nigerian salesman Stanley Chidibe: Our business model aims to solve the problems faced by local small businesses. We are committed to simplifying processes to make purchasing easier and simpler for them.
Nigerian small business owner Ndubisi Udenba: Mops, air fryers, any kitchen utensils, any household goods are my business, and the prices are very affordable.
Tu Hongming, co-founder of Yiwu Cujia Trading Co., Ltd. in Zhejiang: We plan to cover the entire African continent within five years, because the African market is quite large.
In 2025, with the official opening of the Yiwu Global Digital Trade Center, a new wave of foreign trade business models and new groups of people gathered here.
Here, you'll find a "team of female bosses" who practice foreign languages during the day and do live streams late at night. With just a mobile phone and a live stream light, they can sell their products to the other side of the world. Here, you'll find Yiwu's own global payment channel, "YiPay," making trade fund settlement safer and simpler. In 2025, the first overseas store of the "Yiwu Brand Collection Store" opened in Nairobi, Kenya, allowing buyers to "experience products offline and select them online," enabling Yiwu brands to move from "going it alone" to "going global as a group."
From OEM manufacturing to brand expansion overseas, from Yiwu manufacturing to Yiwu creation—the people of Yiwu embody the spirit of hard work and perseverance, turning nothing into something and even stones into gold.
The global network woven by countless hard-working individuals is becoming a vital source of vitality for China's foreign trade.
The blank banner is filled with the legend of China's development.
What would Tu Hongming write on the blank banner he displayed at the beginning of his business? Perhaps "Heading to the World," given their goods are shipped to over 200 countries and regions globally; perhaps "24/7 Online," because their warehouses operate around the clock; or perhaps nothing at all, because that blank banner has long been filled with the spirit of the times and the hard work of its people. It's filled with the "Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe" freight train, "Yiwu Payment," the 200,000 daily shipments to the world, the collective narrative of a generation of Chinese people moving from "manufacturing" to "creation," from "following" to "leading," and, more importantly, the unique diligence, pragmatism, and resilience of the Chinese people. This banner's story tells us: the answers to the questions of our time are always written by those who strive; and China's legend continues to be written in its two-way journey with the world.
