They were only recently regarded by the Chinese authorities as a scourge on the well-ordered landscape of their brave new world. But now the Communist Party is praising the country’s street vendors as one of the solutions to the economic slowdown sparked by China’s deadly coronavirus pandemic. After years of cracking down on street vendors in order to ‘beautify’ its cities and improve hygiene standards, China is now allowing them back to give its Covid-ravaged economy a boost. Chinese premier Li Keqiang gave them his blessing when he recently praised the city of Chengdu, in Sichuan Province, for apparently generating 100,000 jobs overnight by allowing 36,000 street vendors to set up shop. Signalling a more tolerant attitude to the hustle and bustle of street stalls and markets, China’s Central Civilization Committee office has said it will not include vendors who occupy outdoor spaces or other public areas in its city assessment program for 2020, indicating a temporary relaxation on the management of the sector. At the same time a delegate from China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress, called for the relaxation of controls on street vendors to grant them legal status. It came after local government officials appeared to give the green light for the return of street stalls, with pictures of vendors setting up shop to sell shoes, clothes and vegetables along a sidewalk in Chengdu going viral on social media. Officials in the city essentially turned a blind eye to street vendors operating without permits. For many it brought back memories of the city’s long lost bustling street life, with people posting under the hashtag “street vendor economy” and photographs of night markets circulating widely online. The move has been welcomed by the vendors, who are usually unemployed or from low-income families. Song, a 59-year-old street vendor in Beijing, said: “I feel that mobile stalls should be allowed, since if a small cart is used, it won’t affect road traffic, and people can get things cheaper than in bigger stores.” Some economists predict lifting restrictions on street vendors will lead to a jobs surge. Tian Yun, vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, predicted that agricultural produce markets, small commodity markets and morning markets could create at least 100 million jobs. “Last year, one point of GDP growth was estimated to have generated about 2 million jobs. Assuming that there are 5 to 6 million new street stalls this year, it can be equivalent to about 2-3 percentage points of GDP growth,” he told the Global Times. One immediate spin-off has been a surge in the stock value of Wulin Motors, which sells a cargo van that can turn into a mobile stall.
