With reports of toothpick sellers being fined thousands of yuan for not having a logging licence, hundreds of owners of small shops in the provincial capital of Liaoning have chosen to close their doors for fears they could be the next victim of a city government crackdown.
The government launched an inspection of Shenyang stores in June, as the northeastern city prepares to host next year's 12th National Games - which mainland media said has appeared to stretch the city's treasury thin.
While officials say they are conducting an anti-counterfeit campaign, accusations are surfacing that the government is using the inspections to raise funds for the National Games.
Some shop owners said they were opting to be safe rather than sorry after word of other retailers' fines spread online.
Shenyang resident Liu Dexin told the Post yesterday that a friend who sells disposable wooden chopsticks was devastated after being fined 60,000 yuan (HK$73,500) for not having a logging licence.
'It's absurd to ask a chopsticks dealer to have a logging licence, and why wasn't my friend ever told to apply for such a licence?'
But Liu said that he considered his friend lucky after hearing that a seller of bamboo toothpicks was fined 200,000 yuan by government inspectors for the same violation.
