National Geographic

OUR NUTTY NEIGHBORSSquirrels aren’t natural city slickers. In the mid-1800s the tree-dwellingrodents were released in America’s urban areas to “create pockets ofrural peace and calm,” says University of Pennsylvania historian Etienne%HQVRQZKRVWXGLHGRXUUHODWLRQVKLSWRVTXLUUHOVRYHUWKHFRXUVHRIƃYHyears. The creatures became nuisances instead, and by the 1970s manyparks prohibited feeding them. Today, says Benson, “people’s experienceswith squirrels depend on their real estate investments.” —Nina Strochlic|EXPLORE|CITIESAt the wholesale marketknown as Yiwu InternationalTrade City in China, thou-sands of stalls—like this onepacked with hats—displayall manner of inexpensivegoods, from plastic plantsto beach balls.``````important destination. In 1982 the mu-nicipality established Yiwu InternationalTrade City. This sprawling wholesalemarket displays an endless variety ofitems throughout some 70,000 stalls,to dizzying effect.Today buyers from all over come toexamine samples of its million-plus prod-ucts before placing bulk orders. “Each ofthese samples will be manufactured foran agreed price in a factory, usually closeto Yiwu,” says photographer RichardSeymour, who documented the site in2014. Then the merchandise is loadedinto shipping containers—more than1,500 are filled daily—and sent acrossthe world to be sold.Sure, that stuffed animal you just wonat the fair was probably made in Chi-na. But where? There’s a good chancethat it came from Yiwu, which is aboutthree hours south of Shanghai. Manyof the world’s cheap goods originatethere—everything from holiday bau-bles and hair accessories to belts andtoy bulldozers.A relatively small city of 1.2 mil-lion residents, Yiwu has become an``````WELCOME TOTRADE CITY``````By Catherine Zuckerman``````PHOTOS, FROM TOP: RICHARD JOHN SEYMOUR, INSTITUTE;JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK, GOOSE CREEK WILDLIFE SANCTUARY