Beijing’s retail woes: Closed shops, empty malls

Beijing has never been in such a dire State the once bustling streets of Sanlitun and Wang Fujing are now unrecognizable, many businesses have closed and the shopping malls are deserted Shimao tianjie and Galaxy Soho are extremely gloomy. Many people cannot find work spending their days waiting for a manual labour job to make ends meet it’s heartbreaking to witness the current living conditions along Beijing’s second ring Road. Beijing netizens have posted that the city has never been as depressed as it is now the entire city is highly closed off and severely lacking in Vitality.  During the weekend restaurants in this area had long lines of people waiting to have lunch. However, now the place is empty, and the atmosphere is gloomy and deserted. The shopping mall is truly devoid of any visitors.

On the 25th some Weibo netizens posted, “I didn’t expect Zhongguancun, Beijing to be so depressed 10 years later I went to Haidian for an interview today and was struck by how the once bustling area has vanished after leaving the subway station I didn’t see many people shopping many shops were closed car for and Shibao Street were gone I only saw a few snack bars and convenience stores”.  Netizens responded one after another since they did one, low-end population was cleaned up a year ago the city has gradually become deserted. Beijing is in a depression overall not just limited to Zhongguancun, “I don’t know why things are like this now my impression of Beijing from 10 years ago is nothing like what it is today”.

On September 25th last year Lee Hua pseudonym an Insider who often travels between Beijing and other cities in Hebei Province told a reporter that Beijing’s economy is indeed depressed at present. For example, Beijing’s Wukesong which is close to West Changan Street used to be quite busy but since July this year the number of shops in this area has dropped sharply. According to Lea’s observation there are now fewer than 10 foreign-owned supermarkets in Beijing and most of them have closed. Carrefour’s last store in Beijing   has been acquired there are no more Carrefours in Beijing and now Walmart is barely holding on.

A Beijing resident named Wang Lee told reporters that the national economy is currently in a severe recession even the capital Beijing has become deserted empty and lifeless unlike in previous years. Things are no longer good except for civil servants who have some money people basically have no money. The WeChat public account pinkkadashi published an article titled“ Beijing has never been as depressed a sit is now” describing the current depression in Beijing based on years of working and living in the city. The article mentioned that there used to be no guard rails in Tiananmen square and the buildings could be photographed at close range but now they are all blocked off.

Many places in Beijing have been artificially divided such as schools which used to symbolize openness now Tsinghua University, Peking University, other universities, middle schools and elementary schools are all inaccessible. The article also cites Sanlitun, a once famous landmark in Beijing as an example in the past Sanlitun was the Fashion Centre of Beijing and even China with a variety of restaurants dinner parties celebrities film Crews and beautiful people. But now it no longer resembles its former self there is no superficial Prosperity there are more farmers markets in fifth tier counties than in Sanlitun, the article also noted that there are obviously fewer foreigners in Beijing now including fewer white people black people and mixed race West Asians.

In the past Liang maqiao was practically a concession every day a bunch of white people would run around the Liang ma river it was almost like the San. Moreover, the streets in Beijing are not very Lively right now especially at night when there are no people around. There are no stalls, sellers, photographers or street performers the streets are completely empty. The article pointed out that Beijing’s economy was once very strong the technology sector which used to symbolize the internet is no longer viable in Haidian finance located in Xi Cheng is now under strict regulation and has lost its Vitality.

Education also in Haidian is said to be the worst hit industry, culture centered in Chaoyang includes film, television, music, art and media Industries but Beijing’s cultural industry is now more abound. Another area is foreign investment also in Chaoyang, foreign investment in Beijing used to be very strong but everyone knows that the situation has been very bad in recent years especially investment in Beijing. The article concludes by saying that the job opportunities in technology, education, finance, culture, foreign investment and tourism which used to support a large number of ordinary Beijing citizens are no longer available, with the Chinese economy rapidly declining and in recession Beijing is gradually falling into a difficult and gloomy period a layer of smog covers the city and everywhere the Vitality of dawn is no longer present.