Small commodities, big infrastructure

A visual essay on the socio-spatiality of commodity trade infrastructures in Yiwu, China

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21768024
AutoresLaura Henneke (Goldsmiths University of London, autor correspondente)
Ano2020
Volume21
Data de publicação2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoArticulo – revue de sciences humaines (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1661-4941 • E-ISSN: 1661-4941
EditoraOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/articulo.4707
OpenAlexW3133405329
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas27

The landlocked city of Yiwu in Zhejiang Province, China is considered to be the world’s biggest wholesale market for small commodities where low cost consumer goods such as kitchenware, toys, and electronics are traded in bulk before being retailed in (pound)shops around the world. Linked to the rest of the world through a multimodal transport network, Yiwu lies on the ‘backroads of globalisation’ along which minor, low-grade, low-value products travel (Knowles 2014). Building on work by social scientists who question the entanglement of state power, physical infrastructures, and people, this visual essay uses the theoretical lens of infrastructures as well as the lens of cameras to investigate the interdependence of Yiwu’s wholesale and logistics infrastructure and the individuals who work in them to facilitate the global trade of small commodities

Business · China · Commerce · Economics · Geography · Globalization · Landlocked country · Market economy · Multimodal transport · Computer Science · Engineering · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Marketing