The year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Yiwu, a county-level city in East China's Zhejiang province, is a noteworthy locality in the Party's history and has been consistently pushing for economic reform.

Chen Wangdao (1891-1977), born in Fenshuitang village, Yiwu, was a translator and scholar who completed China's first translation of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Around Spring Festival in 1920, Chen returned to Fenshuitang and lived in a woodshed while translating the manifesto under an oil lamp. In August 1920, the Chinese edition of The Communist Manifesto was published and quickly sold out. Many of its readers later became Communist revolutionaries.

The former residence of Chen Wangdao in Fenshuitang village, Yiwu. [Photo/WeChat account:zjfabu]

The first Chinese edition of The Communist Manifesto. [Photo/WeChat account:zjfabu]

Yiwu was home to 13 CPC members by 1927 and 527 by 1930.

On May 7, 1949, Yiwu was taken over by the CPC-led People's Liberation Army.

Yiwu authorities announced that they would open the Choucheng Small Commodities Market, the prototype of the city's modern wholesale market, as early as August 1982, just four years after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, which ushered in a new era of reform and opening up and socialist modernization in China.

On Feb 28, 1992, the State Council announced at a news conference that the Yiwu small commodities wholesale market generated 1.025 billion yuan ($156.52 million) in transactions in 1991, ranking first among all such markets in China. The Yiwu market continued to be the most popular wholesale market in China in terms of total transaction value for the next 25 consecutive years.

Today, Yiwu is home to the world's largest wholesale market for small commodities.

In March 2011, the State Council officially directed Yiwu to pilot comprehensive national reforms in international trade. Through years of experimentation, Yiwu has made numerous breakthroughs in international trade, modern logistics, and new-pattern urbanization.

The Yiwu Comprehensive Bonded Zone. [Photo/WeChat account:zjfabu]

In November 2014, Yiwu started running its first China-Europe freight train service. The city is currently connected to Spain, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and many other European countries through a total of 14 freight train service routes, making it an increasingly important hub for the Belt and Road Initiative.

Yiwu debuts its first-ever China-Europe freight train service on Nov 18, 2014. The train departs from Yiwu and runs all the way to Madrid, capital of Spain. [Photo/WeChat account:zjfabu]