Professor Magnus Marsden  (University of Sussex, Anthropology)

Magnus Marsden is the project’s Principal Investigator. He will conduct research in Yiwu on traders from Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as in the markets to which these traders export commodities.

Dr Paul Anderson  (University Lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies; Assistant Director, HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies, Cambridge University)

Dr Paul Anderson will conduct research in Yiwu and the Middle East on the activities of traders from Iraq and Syria.

Professor Caroline Humphrey DBE FBA  (Cambridge University, Director of Research and Founding Director, Mongolia and Inner Asian Studies Unit)

Professor Caroline Humphrey will contribute to the project’s theorisation of trust and trading spaces, as well as conduct ethnographic fieldwork on the relationship of Yiwu to trading nodes elsewhere.

Dr Diana Ibañez-Tirado  (University of Sussex, Anthropology)

Dr Ibañez-Tirado’s research will focus on the circulation of people, commodities and knowledge between Yiwu and Central Asia (Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan) and the gendered aspects of this trade.

Dr Marina Marouda  (Research Fellow, Anthropology, University of Sussex)

As part of this project, Dr Marouda is looking into the activities of overseas Vietnamese, especially in places like China and Eastern Europe, and assess the significance of their credit providing services for the making of transnational marketplaces and the facilitation of transcultural flows. 

Professor Filippo Osella  (Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies, University of Sussex)

Professor Filippo Osella will conduct research in Yiwu and India concerning China-South Asian trading dynamics.

Dr Huaichuan Rui  (Management Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London).

Dr Huaichuan Rui will conduct research on Yiwu concerning the effects of policy and legislation on the city’s dynamics.

Dr. Heila Sha (Saheira Haliel) 

Dr. Heila Sha (Saheira Haliel) will conduct research in Yiwu concerning the interactions between local and incoming Chinese citizens and international traders across the domains of business practice, marriage, friendship, sexuality, and cultural life more generally.

Dr Vera Skvirskaja  (Associate Professor Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen).

Dr Vera Skrviskaja’s work will concern the activities of Russia and Ukrainian traders in Yiwu, as well as the changing nature of trading structures in their home countries. 

International Advisory Board

Mr. Xiong Tao: Standing Committee Member, Yiwu Committee of CPC; Vice Mayor, Yiwu Municipal People's Government

Mr. Huang Weiyong: Director, Foreign & Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Yiwu Municipal People's Government

Professor Wang Jian: Chair Professor of International Business and e-Business; Director of Center for International Business Studies; Director of Cross-border E-commerce Research Center, University of International Business and Economics (UIBE)

Mr. Zhang Jinqing: Vice Chief Planner, Senior Planner, China Academy of Urban Planning & Design (Shanghai Branch)

Mr. Zhang Jinqing: Director and Chair, China International Electronic Commerce Centre (CIEEC), Ministry of Commerce of the PRC

Professor Wang Ming: President, Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College.

Mr. Zhu Xiaoliang: Director and Chair, China International Electronic Commerce Centre (CIEEC), Ministry of Commerce of the PRC