Navigating tough times in Yiwu

Yulian takes a passerby's body temperature in Yiwu. [Photo/WeChat account: iJinhua365]

Yulian never feels lonely, as there are more than 10,000 international businessmen in Yiwu.

How great is Yiwu? It is evident from the number of foreigners living there. Yulian is the foreign trade manager at Zhejiang Leierda Trading Co Ltd, which is headquartered in Yueqing. He is mainly responsible for procurement in Yiwu, and often participates in volunteer activities in his spare time.

Yulian usually returns to his hometown once or twice a year. This year, he stayed in Yiwu and helped the city deal with the pandemic. During the pandemic, his relatives urged him to return home as soon as possible. Russia sent chartered international passenger flights, but he instead decided to volunteer to help fight the pandemic when he heard that there were not enough volunteers in the community. He regards Yiwu as his second home after living there for three years, so he felt he should do his part to help the city during tough times.

At first, his family did not know much about the pandemic, nor did they understand his choice, let alone support it. "They mainly worried about my safety and felt like I didn't care about their feelings," said Yulian.

In early February, Yulian and local volunteers took the temperatures of people entering and exiting the Changchun Community in Futian subdistrict. "When I first started this work, I met a couple coming back from Wenzhou. Their temperature was above 39 degrees Celsius. I was a little nervous, but fortunately, it was a false alarm," said Yulian.

In addition to serving in the community, Yulian also took the initiative to post videos to his WeChat Moments. He said, "I am in Yiwu, and I am fine. Let us unite to protect our home," calling on all of Yiwu's people to unite and protect the city. Many of his international friends saw his video and left comments. They also decided to post videos to support Yiwu in its fight against the pandemic.

In mid-February, after the first district and second district of the International Trade City of Yiwu opened, Yulian quickly signed up for a volunteer team made up of foreigners. He was on duty three days a week. With his fluent Mandarin, patience, and meticulousness, he was able to carry out his work competently.

The pandemic is still raging in Ukraine, as COVID-19 continues to spread globally. With experience fighting the pandemic in Yiwu, Yulian decided to teach Ukrainians how to deal with the virus and told his friends to buy masks in pharmacies before local outbreaks occurred. "I figured that COVID-19 was not a common disease. After the pandemic broke out in Ukraine, masks in pharmacies would be flying off the shelves," he said.

He has kept in close contact with friends and family in Ukraine. In April, Yiwu held an exhibition on pandemic prevention. Yulian bought 10,000 masks there and sent them back to his friends and family in Ukraine. "For them, masks were the best gift," said Yulian.