These days there is a common scene on the Beijing streets and this is quite shocking that every household skips New Year’s shopping online article. Beijing never been this desolate, gets banned outside the street service centre, in Chaoyang District there is a queue of nearly 100 people dressed in thick coats, they slowly move forward. They are all selling blood to a blood donation vehicle parked in the courtyard. They are selling at RMB 800 for 200 cc and RMB 1200 for 300 cc.
China’s economy continues to decline with many foreign companies leaving and numerous private business closing down leading to a wave of unemployment.As the new year approaches reduction in wages become more common worsening the situation among the crowd selling blood, some struggle to pay rent while others lack money to return home for the holidays. Even delivery drivers are also seen standing in the blood selling queues in their yellow dresses. Beijing Youth Daily revealed that earlier the main force of the blood sellers in Beijing were often labourers and students primarily driven by their financial needs. Now more unemployed individuals are joining the ranks of blood sellers.
Before Chinese New Year, Beijing not only lacked the usual surge in consumption but also saw an unusual phenomena.More peopleopt to forego traditional New Year Goods such as special food and snacks in order to save money. This dampens the festive atmosphere across the country, in recent years, more and more people aren’t preparing New Year goods anymore. But this year they are not buying any festival related stuffs, the festive atmosphere is fading, nobody visits each other’s homes for meals or pays New Year visits anymore. This year in Beijing many migrant workers are returning home unusually early this year, on the other hand many shop owners are still working, customers have already dwindled but despite bleak business shop keepers are still opening up their shops and have not gone back to their hometown.
China’s economy is steadily declining even in Beijing where there is a strong sense of layoffs, salary cuts, factory closures and shop closures are common and there are many stories of middle aged people losing their jobs. Many industries in Beijing’s capital are showing signs of decline, once bustling Wang Fu Jing street has changed drastically, once crowded pedestrian street is now sparsely populated. Dongan market and the departmental stores are deserted, in the clothing business district of Muxiyuan, South Third Ring Road in Beijing, there are no more clothing stores. The place called Hesheng Plaza was built later people used to visit Fushi International a few years ago, this place was once bustling but now all appears to be a Ghost town.
In a country with a population of 1.4 billion one can hardly see any crowd in the market place, at Beijing International Airport, there is not a single person in the duty free shops, in customs clearance area one can hardly see any person, there are no inbound and outbound passengers flow, flights from the UK and the US to China are mostly empty, the massive departure lounge is all empty, one can only see few persons who are on duty. On January 25th titled Beijing has never been so bleak circulated on We Chat, it describes the city as closed off devoid of vitality and lacking opportunities across various industries like technology, education, finance, culture, foreign investment and tourism. The article laments that in the past Tiananmen square had no barriers and people could take close up photos of the buildings there, now everything is fenced off. Additionally, many places in Beijing have been artificially divided such as schools, they used to be symbols of openness, but now places like Tsinghua University Peking University and all levels of schools are no longer freely accessible. Previously Sanlitun was the icon of fashion and night life in Beijing and even China with various restaurants celebrities and film crews, now there are nowhere to be seen, even the superficial prosperity is gone.
Rural markets in fifth tier cities have more people than Sanlitun, the piece reflects on Beijing’s economic decline, noting the downturn in sectors like technology, finance, education, culture, foreign investment and tourism. It highlights dwindling number of foreigners and the overall lack of street activity, particularly at night. The articles states that Beijing’s economy used to be strong. The internet technology industry is in Haidian district, but now it’s not doing well, the financial district is in Xicheng, but under strict regulations, this area has died out, the education industry also concentrates in Haidianand now is said to be the worst hit industry.
The cultural industry such as film, music, art and media gathers in Chaoyang but now only half-hearted efforts remain the once strong foreign investment areas was in Chaoyang, but everyone knows the situation of foreign investment in China in recent years. Finally, the last invisible one is tourism, but now people don’t prefer to come to Beijing anymore. This article has been deleted and not it cannot be found on Sina Weibo. One of the other busy place in Beijing Yonganli was also deserted, many netizens have mentioned this on social media along with the videos of its deserted shopping malls, streets and rice shops, fruit shops, hair salons, vegetable stores and meat pie shops which used to be a bustling place were all closed.
The economy continued to falter people’s income decreasing and consumer spending weakening a vicious cycle has formed. Many economists believe that China’s 40year economic growth cycle is basically over and that it will enter a period of depression in the future. On the other side Chinese government is vigorously promoting the bright economic theory through its propaganda machinery. Some people call it, “A giant ship, almost 95% of its power is spent on tooting its own horn. In previous years, we could describe it as being critically ill, but now it’s being kept a secret. More and more people openly criticize Xi Jinping for its ignorance and incompetence, politicizing everything, personally directing and ruining the Chinese economy. Instead of achieving his touted prosperous society, he’s making all citizens poorer.”Professor Xie Tian from University of South Carolina said, “The CPC absolutely does not dare to relax its political control. In other words, it is even less willing to revive the economy through structural reforms. The CPC refuses to reverse the economic downturn starting from itself. As the days go by, life is likely to become increasingly difficult. If the people lose trust in the government, they will inevitably have to tighten their belts to make ends meet.”