Hawkes, who play a game of cat and mouse with the authorities, are hitting the streets as the sluggish economic recovery is not helping them with their wages. It was reported by many hawkers, one of whom was Wang Chunxiang.
She sells pastries in the busy area of Shanghai. She chose to push the cart because the jobs she could get could not help her make ends meet. She said, “Salaries are too low.” She is 43 years old and sells steamed sweet rice cakes from a wok.
Wang resumed hawking after six years. She said, “At my age, without much knowledge, I could only earn 5,000 to 6,000 yuan ($868) per month as a cleaning lady. Shanghai rent is so expensive. Even low quality homes are 2,000-3,000 yuan.” But by selling pastries, she can earn up to 10,000 yuan in a good month. She charges 15 yuan per box.
The slow and uneven recovery of the economy affected the growth of jobs and wages, and because of the sluggish growth of jobs and wages, to supplement the income, hawkers started hitting the streets after life in China returned to normal after the pandemic.
Street vendors and hawkers are banned in many regions of China. In some parts of China, they are tightly regulated because, according to authorities, they are considered unsightly. However, now the local government is giving more leeway to hawkers.
An incident was reported, and the authorities were forced to intervene and issue warnings because of overcrowding. Zibo City, located in eastern China, became popular and saw a rush of tourists for its street food.
There were ease in restrictions on street stalls in the tech hub of Shenzhen, which banned hawking in 1999. The restrictions will be eased starting in September. For hawker regulations, Shanghai is seeking public opinion, and it said in April that it set 74 spots for vendors.
To encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, the city in the northwest of China, Lanzhou, said it will designate areas for street stalls.
The chief economist at Jones Lang Lasalle, Bruce Pang, said, “It’s natural for some local governments to trial street vending as they are facing great pressure in stabilising local economies and the job market.”
The youth unemployment rate is at a record high and the job market is sluggish, but there was growth in household income, which increased 3.8% in the quarter year on year. But the growth is still lagging behind broader economic growth.
Because of the economic pressure, the hawkers are forced to take the risk of paying fines or having their goods seized. The flower vendor, Wang Xuexue, said she prefers to peddle away from the specified zone. According to the 28-year-old, those locations are inconvenient and charge fees.
Wang said, “Of course authorities try to catch us. Otherwise we wouldn’t run so fast.”
Hawkers were still seen at the tourist spots in Beijing, for which President Xi Jinping previously said the region should remain above all a “political centre” without a street economy.
The condition of the pen seller became worse, and Lu Wei cancelled the lease of the store he used to own before the pandemic. Because of the decline in sales, he could not afford the rent and had to cancel the lease in 2020. Currently, he tries to sell his 30 yuan pen along Lake Houhai in Beijing, but the business is still slow.
Lu said, “People have no money in their pockets. Even if they do, they don’t want to spend it.
