I took an interesting trip to the city of Yiwu this past weekend. Yiwu is about 30 minutes from my town of Zhuji and is well known for its large Arab population and culture. The reason for this is because Middle Eastern business-men have migrated there for international trade. This effect has created a strong Arab culture with many Arab restaurants in the city, many of which are concentrated in downtown Yiwu.

Walking through downtown Yiwu is unlike anything I have experienced in China. There are more Arabs in the streets than Chinese, there is an abundance of middle-eastern restaurants, hookah bars, and more street BBQ than you can shake a skewer at. You really feel like you are not in China anymore, but instead in some kind of Arab-Asian fusion world. My girlfriend is Turkish and cooks amazing authentic Turkish/Middle Eastern food, so you can imagine how excited I was to try the food in Yiwu. 

Here are a few photos and videos I captured. Notice the amount of meat and smoke from the street BBQ in the videos. What was interesting is that all these restaurants cooked all their meat outside on their own BBQ's, instead of in the kitchen. This helps with all the smoke created from the grilling and is a great way to advertise a restaurant's meat.

Turkish Restaurant.

Colorful street stand selling a variety of beans, grains, and dried meats.

Our dinner. Meat was very tender. Yogurt was very tangy. Bread was a bit salty and greasy.