[Newyddion Tang Dynasty News, amser Beijing, Mai 27, 2023]The “Zibo Barbecue”, which was heavily hyped by CCP officials, once became popular on the Internet, but the popularity is gradually cooling down. A few days ago, during his inspection trip to Xiongan, Hebei, Xi Jinping publicly opposed Beijing’s street stall economy for the first time. Some analysts say that this is Xi face-to-face pouring cold water on Li Qiang, who is involved in the street stall economy.
Since March this year, Zibo, Shandong has become the “famous city of the Internet” under the vigorous publicity of the Chinese Communist Party. Especially during the “1 May”, many people take the “barbecue train” to Zibo to “catch the barbecue”. But recently, some netizens posted a video saying, “The popularity of barbecue in Zibo has decreased.”
Recently, a video about Zibo barbecue shows that in the outdoor dining area of a barbecue restaurant, there is no customer in a long row of seats. The photographer said, “Since yesterday, I found that it was already 18 o’clock (evening dinner time), and there were still no customers. In the few days before ten days ago, the seats were full at the moment.”
The staff of Muyang Village, a famous online barbecue brand in Zibo, told Lu Media that there are indeed signs of “cooling off” in barbecue. In the last week, the number of people has decreased. “I used to line up for at least half an hour, but now I line up for half an hour at most.” The time for lunch is shorter.
On May 26, a reporter from The Epoch Times called a long-established local barbecue restaurant. The owner admitted that his restaurant is still operating as usual, but the number of customers has dropped significantly.
The boss mentioned, among his peers, that Muyangcun barbecue is Zibo’s signature, but now it is worse than before. Because it was too popular before and became a local landmark, the owner of Muyang Village barbecue restaurant is under a lot of pressure now.
He said too many shops were opened in the local area at the beginning of “May New Year”, and now those shops are boring: “Many barbecue shops have been opened in Zibo, which is chaotic. It was then there used to be three or four barbecue shops in this street, but now there are nine. Barbecue at home – within a 100-metre radius of me.”
Coincidentally, Xi Jinping recently publicly opposed Beijing’s street stall economy, which has attracted attention.
On May 10, Xi Jinping visited Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province, accompanied by three members of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council, Cai Qi, Director of the Central Office, and Ding Xuexiang, Vice-Premier Minister.
The Chinese Communist Party’s Xinhua News Agency released a lengthy article on May 14, detailing the details of Xi Jinping’s inspection in Xiong’an, as well as some of Xi’s lectures to officials.
Speaking about Beijing’s location, Xi Jinping said the capital is first and foremost a political center, not a “hodgepodge”, and is not allowed to “set up factories in back alleys” or engage in a “street stall economy”.
The “street stall economy” was proposed by Li Keqiang, the former Premier of the Chinese Communist Party, when he was in office One of the reasons was to alleviate the increasingly serious unemployment crisis in different parts of China, but it did. not receiving Xi Jinping’s support at that time. After Li Qiang succeeded Li Keqiang, the economy recently reopened street stalls from Zibo BBQ to Beijing, Shenzhen and other places.
It is worth noting that during this visit, Xi Jinping publicly opposed Beijing’s street stall economy for the first time.
Zhang Tianliang, a current affairs commentator and associate professor at Feitian University’s Department of Humanities, once said in his “Dawn Time” program that Xi Jinping’s comments were “obviously beating Li Qiang.” Suddenly, Xi Jinping gave a direct blow to Li Qiang, saying that Beijing cannot participate in a street stall economy, which shows that Li Qiang’s role as prime minister is not easy to play.
In March this year, Li Qiang succeeded Li Keqiang as the premier of the Communist Party of China.
Unemployment has increased due to the depressed Chinese economy. To stimulate the economy, Li Qiang returned to Li Keqiang’s “street stall economy”.
The National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China released economic data for April 16 May, showing that the youth unemployment rate rose to a record 20.4%.
The Wall Street Journal reported on May 26 that Zibo’s sudden rise in popularity underscores that Chinese people are increasingly valuing fun and saving money over extravagant spending. From an old industrial city to a hot spot for barbecues, the Zibo phenomenon reflects the bitter reality of China’s economic recovery after the epidemic.
According to reports, this lively atmosphere hides a deeper challenge. Although many Chinese are keen to party and party with friends, they are very cautious when it comes to big ticket purchases such as furniture and electrical appliances. Poor job prospects are also causing many young people to delay marriage and having children, which could exacerbate China’s population decline in the coming years.
According to the report, the challenges facing the Chinese economy can be seen from the data on tourism consumption during the “May New Year” holiday. According to data from China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, while domestic tourist arrivals climbed 19% from the same period in 2019 before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, total tourism spending rose only 0.7%.
Davy Jun Huang, an economist in the United States, once told The Epoch Times that after three years of the epidemic, all the reserves of ordinary people were basically depleted. Now it has just reached a critical point. After the CCP’s strict zero-clearing policy was lifted, the common people suddenly realized that they really had no money.
“Consuming power will continue to fall in the future, and the overall economy will go down. After the epidemic eases and rebounds for a short time, the real tough days will be gradually reflected in reality.” David Huang said.
(Comprehensive reporting by reporter Tang Zheng/Editor-in-charge: Li Quan)
