How Beijing's Yabao Road market started flourishing

If Yabao Road, a retail hub in Beijing that attracts many Russians, reflects the history of China-Russia trade over the past decades, Feng Shixia may be among those best qualified to tell stories of its ups and downs.

"I remember once I brought my kid to a hospital near the road in the 1990s, and I was puzzled by the many bustling outdoor stalls there. I had no idea why the clothes, which just hung in a line between two roadside trees trunks, could attract so many Russians customers," said Feng.

At the time, Feng was a saleswoman in a shopping mall, and she could hardly foresee that she would later be involved in seeking to tap into the street's market in clothes aimed at Russian customers.

She became chairwoman on the board of Beijing Clasna Fashion Co, a producer of down coats and a leader in national efforts to regain the Russian market that was previously cornered by the street market.

The Yabao Road market took shape in 1988 and flourished after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Its low prices and plentiful supplies met the soaring demand of eastern European countries for daily necessities such as clothes and shoes.

"At that time, Chinese down coats were indeed cheap — about 40 yuan ($6.50) each — but most of the coats were of low quality, made in home workshops, with feathers from chickens instead of ducks. And there was nothing in terms of style or brands," Feng said.

The boom did not last for long. The value of Chinese down coats exported to Russia fell to less than $7 million in 2000 from $200 million around 1993, media quoted official statistics as saying.

In 2003, the Russian government burned a large number of down coats imported from China to protest at the fake and shoddy products, which often smelt terrible after long periods sealed in shipping containers.