Sun Lijuan is pictured at the Yiwu International Trade Mart in Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province, May 20, 2025. Sun Lijuan is among the first merchants to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) for foreign trade at the Yiwu International Trade Mart in Yiwu, an international hub for the production and trade of small commodities. Her shop, Hongsheng Toys, sells lifelike dolls and plush toys to international customers.

In recent years, the rapid development of AI has boosted her orders and helped reduce operational costs. With the help of AI, Sun is able to present product-selling videos in 36 different languages to global viewers. Even the mouth movements of speakers in the videos can be adapted in line with the pronunciation.

Now in the city of Yiwu, nearly 30,000 merchants regularly use various AI tools in their businesses. AI-relevant applications developed in Yiwu alone have accumulated over one billion uses.

In addition to recording product-selling videos, Sun handles all matters related to her business within a 13.5-square-meter shop all year round.

Embracing new technologies such as AI counts as one reason for Sun's thriving business. She hopes that AI could benefit more Yiwu-based merchants. [Xinhua/Han Chuanhao]