Oil Reclaiming Equipment

The devout Pakistanis are facing west, not east. In fact, they're in the Far East -- in Yiwu, a boomtown of 2.2 million in China's Zhejiang Province, 200 miles southwest of Shanghai.

Hanging from skylights above them are two banners emblazoned with propaganda meant to inspire the masses: FACE THE WORLD, SERVE THE COUNTRY AND ASSEMBLE COMMODITIES FAR AND NEAR, MAKE FRIENDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Their ad-hoc prayer hall is Yiwu's International Trade Mart. In the summer of 1982, just as China was opening to capitalism, the local government allocated land on the rural town's outskirts for an open-air market. What began as a cluster of street vendors has transmogrified into the Trade Mart, the world's largest small-commodities market: a chain of warehouses that opened in 2002 and now spans more than 988 acres -- large enough to fit 10 Malls of America.

If China is the world's factory, then Yiwu is its showroom. Balloons made in Guangzhou, teacups fired in Jingdezhen, and slippers sewn in Pinghu -- they're all on display in Yiwu, so traders can browse and haggle without having to schlep across the country to scope out different factories. Yiwu has made commerce convenient, particularly for Muslim buyers from the Middle East and beyond.

The entrance of the vast Trade Mart is designed to impress. Near the main doors, set amid a glass cube, a towering sign gives a vague sense of what lies within. District No. 1 sells fake flowers, jewelry, and crafts. Luggage, clocks, small appliances, and rain gear are in district No. 2. Need stationery, sports equipment, or zippers? Head to No. 3. District No. 4 holds bras, knitted belts, and yarn. But that's not nearly all.

Imagine a fortress converted into a convention center turned into a bazaar, with fewer windows. Inside, past a fleet of ATMs and up the escalator, are 62,000 stalls selling some 410,000 products. The buzz of fluorescent lights is drowned out by the noise of thousands of conversations in Mandarin, Arabic, Swahili, Spanish, Hindi, Russian, Farsi, English, and the local Yiwu dialect. Tweezers, sink faucets, power strips, coffee mugs, and hammers fill row after row of booths, each about the size of a prison cell. Suits of armor are on the top floor, next to patio furniture and artificial fireplaces. Toys are below. In the footbridges that link the districts, entrepreneurs have set up banks of pleather massage chairs. Vending machines spit out shrink-wrapped dress shirts for those needing a quick wardrobe change.