An Iranian businessman named Majed (right) talks in Chinese to a stallholder in Chinese at a market in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, on Dec 21. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

The study of Chinese has enjoyed great popularity among foreign businesspeople and international students in Yiwu, the world's largest wholesale market for small consumer goods.

With the development of China's Belt and Road Initiative and frequent freight trains to Central Europe and Central Asia, Yiwu city in Zhejiang province has become a transport hub and a core area for commodity shopping.

Many foreign businesspeople stay in the city to buy goods during the day and study Chinese at training agencies at night.

A manager of a local language training center said the number of foreign merchants who study Chinese in Yiwu has seen robust growth in recent years. Meanwhile, the number of international students at Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College has grown from four in 2007 to this year's 1,125, 80 percent of whom are from countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.