China Pins Hope On Street Vendors To Revive Economy After COVID-19

Without question all economies will be doing a vast restructuring led mostly by the newly unemployed elements of hte population and getting out of their way is now a priority.

Revitalizing this sector is the easiest first step and naturally leads to many future openings as well.

Beutification is a false question easily overcome by establishing  standards.  Just be quick about it.  We suffered years of foot dragging on this is in vancouver and got ultimately a robust solution that appears to work well enough.

all good..

China Pins Hope On Street Vendors To Revive Economy After COVID-19

supchina.com/2020/06/05/china-pins-hope-on-street-vendors-to-revive-economy-after-covid-19/China Pins Hope On Street Vendors To Revive Economy After COVID-19

JIAYUN FENG

JUNE 5, 2020

In an attempt to revive China’s battered economy and tame an unemployment crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 27 Chinese cities, including key metropolises like Shanghai and Chengdu, have announced plans to bring back street vending. This comes after many years of crackdowns on street stalls for “urban beautification.”

The large-scale initiative comes on the heels of Chinese Premier Lǐ Kèqiáng’s 李克强 visit to Yantai, Shandong Province, on Monday, during which he talked to a string of street vendors, praising them as “the livelihood of China” and vowing to support their businesses.

“Micro-economies like street vendors and small shops are important sources of employment. They are as vital as big and fancy corporations,” Li added (in Chinese). “China can only become stronger if its markets, enterprises, and small businesses can come alive, survive, and develop!”

Since then, a growing number of cities across the country have responded to Li’s calls (in Chinese) with pledges and policies: 

The Urban Management and Law Enforcement Bureau of Shanghai issued a guidance document encouraging “a new type of consumption model” driven by roadside vendors. The document also stressed Shanghai’s dedication to boosting its “night economy,” saying that the city would create more high-quality nighttime events in the future. 

Jinan in Shandong Province has rolled out a set of policies to encourage small businesses to extend their hours, reduce application processing time for street vendors, and give them more liberty in designing customized shop signs and billboards. 

Zhengzhou in Hunan Province ordered its district governments to create one or two areas dedicated to night street vendors. Meanwhile, it asked district governments to “fully utilize” public locations like plazas and parks, and turn them into venues for flea markets. 

Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, released plans to create 100 daytime vegetable vendors and 100 nighttime barbecue food stalls. 

City management officers in Jiangxi Province have been making calls to people who used to own street stalls to convince them to return to their old professions. 

Major tech firms and other related businesses were quick to jump on the bandwagon. On Tuesday, WeChat announced that it had launched a new “firework” plan to help small and medium-sized businesses set up digital transactions. Alibaba and JD.com, meanwhile, said they would sell merchandise to street-vendor owners on credit.

Wuling Motors, a car manufacturer, has seized on the timing to market a mini truck specifically designed for street vendors, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. In an interview (in Chinese) with Pear Video, a sales representative from the company said that the vehicle received more orders on Wednesday alone than all of May. “The model existed before those new measures promoting street vendors. But we improved it to make it more suitable for street vendors,” the person said. “We produce what people want and we follow national policies closely.”

The ongoing government-approved frenzy for streetside stalls is an ironic contrast to China’s previous attitude. Before COVID-19 hit, urban management officers, known as chengguan (城管 chéngguǎn), had developed a reputation for using violence to clamp down on street vendors, who were seen by Chinese officials as unsuitable for a modern country.