China’s corona policy: emptiness in the halls of the commercial city

Two years ago, China closed its borders. Since then, entries have been severely restricted. Traders in the export metropolis of Yiwu are among the victims of the zero Covid strategy.

The commercial metropolis of Yiwu on China’s east coast is one of the many rapidly growing megacities in the country that all look similar with their high-rise buildings, multi-lane streets, concrete and glass.

A city for commerce only

But Yiwu has one special feature: the dimensions of the “Yiwu International Trade City” can only be fully grasped from a bird’s eye view – huge halls stretching over several streets. Four million square meters, the area of ​​560 Bundesliga football pitches.

Inside are tens of thousands of small shops, hardly larger than garages, in which consumer goods are stacked to the ceiling. Carnival masks, cooking pots, thermos flasks, coffee mugs, toy cars, suitcases, beach towels, petrol cans – around 400,000 different products are for sale in Yiwu. Customers are not looking for individual items here, but rather order entire container loads for department stores and supermarkets all over the world.

With luck some online trading

Before the corona pandemic, the halls were full of commercial travelers from umpteen countries. Every day, about 20,000 foreigners came in search of new goods from the factories that produce for export around Yiwu in the industrial province of Zhejiang. Now the halls are empty. The sellers sit alone in their shops, if you are lucky, customers can now order the goods online.

“We only have a few regular customers who place orders online. They appreciate the quality of our products. People who have never bought our goods don’t trust us,” explains Zhu Suzhen. She is sitting in front of a shelf with camping tents. “We can’t win new customers that way,” she says. “In addition, transport costs have risen sharply since the pandemic, which makes our goods more expensive.” Not all customers are willing to pay more money.

The trader Jin Yuqiao was hit twice, she says. There are no foreign buyers, but there is currently little interest in their trolley cases, which come in a variety of sizes and colors. “Suitcase shops like us depend on tourism, but since the pandemic, people around the world are staying at home instead of traveling,” she says. Your sales have collapsed by half.

Rigorous actions of the communist leadership

Two years ago, in March 2020, things suddenly went quiet in “Yiwu International Trade City”. To protect against infections, the communist leadership imposed an entry ban for China. Since then, foreigners have only been allowed into the country in a few exceptional cases and – like Chinese people entering the country – have to be in monitored hotel room quarantine for three weeks. The travel restrictions are part of the China zero-Covid course that the leadership in Beijing is sticking to.

Most recently, Prime Minister Li Keqiang reaffirmed this at the People’s Congress in early March: “We will continue the effective routine Covid 19 control.” According to Li Keqiang, it is necessary to “constantly refine the measures to contain the epidemic”.

As before, the authorities are countering the rising number of infections in many regions and cities in China with lockdowns of entire cities with a population of over a million, mass tests and quarantines. With the high transmissibility of the omicron variant, trying to avoid all infections in the country and contain clusters immediately becomes even more difficult.

Many businesses went bankrupt

In Yiwu, Lou Zhenfang shows us his wares, he sells garden pavilions that can be opened. “Very robust,” he praises his goods. The seller thinks the government’s restrictive corona course is the right one, even if business is suffering: “During the pandemic, it’s hard for everyone in the world. But I really appreciate the care and support that President Xi is showing us. The prevention and control measures are well done.”

Sentences that sound a lot like state propaganda. For two years, this has been spreading the same message about China’s successful fight against the pandemic and failures abroad, where governments are unable to protect their citizens from the epidemic.

In the “Trade City” in Yiwu, many shops are closed. Many of the restaurants and hotels outside in the immediate vicinity of the halls are also closed. “Since traders stopped coming from abroad, a lot of them have gone bankrupt here,” a passer-by tells us. For these people, the closure of the Chinese borders two years ago meant the end of the economy. An end to zero Covid in China is still not in sight.