I’m a few hours away from Shanghai and I’ve not seen daylight for over three hours. I’m also hopelessly lost. I’ve been trying to get out of this place for the last 45 minutes, but the vast labyrinth of corridors and stores all look identical. I’m surrounded by artificial trees, baubles, fake snow, felt Santa hats, and animated LED reindeers. All I hear is festive music. I’m trapped in my worst Christmas nightmare, and it is only August. A hot, sticky day in August. For a moment, it feels like I may never escape, doomed to spend the rest of my life in a never-ending Santa’s Grotto.

I’m at the Christmas level of the International Trade Market in Yiwu, around 300 kilometres (187 miles) south of Shanghai. According to Xinhua, the state-run news agency, more than 60% of the world’s Christmas decorations are made in Yiwu, a significant proportion of which is sold at this enormous wholesale market. As I discovered, Christmas is made in Yiwu. That tree lighting up your lounge. Those decorations hanging from the ceiling. That novelty stocking filler you bought for your child. Chances are they came not far from where I am standing.

I’m here with Unknown Fields Division, led by Liam Young and Kate Davies, part of a group of students, writers and film-makers following the global supply chain back to the source of many of our consumer goods. And today, this quest has brought us to what may be the world capital of Christmas tat.

Huge mall

It’s hard to know how to describe Yiwu Market’s scale. I could start with the statistics; how it currently covers an area of four million sq m, with 62,000 booths inside. I could tell you how it is estimated to have an incredible 40,000 visitors every day, 5,000 of whom are said to be buyers from foreign countries. But these are just numbers.

Inside, it looks like a run-down large shopping mall, but you need to start walking to appreciate its size. The complex is divided into five districts, and I first enter through District 1 – straight into a corridor lined with shops exhibiting only pens and pencils. I turn a corner: more pens and pencils. I walk for another 15 minutes. All I see is the same stationery.