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Opinion | Why technology, not street vendors, will save China’s economy from coronavirus
- A street vendor economy will only create the illusion of job security for millions of urban unemployed, migrant workers and fresh graduates
- China’s race to global economic superpower status can only succeed with unwavering commitment to doubling down on technological empowerment
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The “street vendor economy”, the latest economic policy from Premier Li Keqiang, has spread across China’s city streets in the past two weeks. It may seem alluring at first, but it’s far from a prescription for economic prosperity. A street vendor economy cannot save China.
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During his visit to Yantai, Shandong province, on May 31, Li said: “Street vendors and small shops are important sources of employment. This is the ordinary people’s way of living. Just like those advanced and hi-tech industries, they are vital to the economy.”
Shanghai quickly announced a month-long festival promoting street nightlife. By June 4, at least 27 cities had enacted policies promoting street vendors.
Street vending has long been considered at odds with metropolitan modernity in China. For the past decade, city patrols and street vendors have engaged in a cat-and-mouse game on China’s streets, occasionally ending in brutality.
In 2017, Beijing party chief Cai Qi enacted evictions of Beijing’s “low-end population” in a massive city clean-up movement, a move to erase street vending in Beijing. The areas where migrant workers lived were cleared in 48 to 72 hours after the order.
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Beijing’s snub puts street vendors on wrong side of regulations again
Beijing’s snub puts street vendors on wrong side of regulations again
Street vendors bring fond memories of once-lively metropolises in China in the early period of reform and opening up. China has travelled too far into the era of digital economy, online retail and data-driven e-commerce, though, to embrace the low productivity of street vendors. The street vendor economy is a dinosaur that belongs to China’s economic past.
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