Well, much more trading business is done online now, coupled with a general slow down in the Chinese economy/world trade:

http://www.voanews.com/a/wholesale-capital-of-the-world-grap...

From the friendly article: The sheer scale of what’s in front of me belies the fact that Yiwu market’s heyday was in the past – much of this trade is now migrating online, to websites such as Alibaba and Made In China.

That was 2014, it has accelerated greatly in 2016.

Nice try. Yiwu is still HUGE, and a great place to find products to sell, or a place for a product you need.

No one is denyng that, but like every other trading mall in china, times are changing. Yiwu gets the brunt of it because it got so much business, but the traders from the Middle East and Africa have cut back.

Next thing you'll tell me that the Canton Fair is still going strong, which it isn't.