All change for Beijing’s market traders
Print Edition
Like thousands of businessmen in Dahongmen, one of the major wholesale markets in Beijing, 45-year-old Shi Ankai has a tough decision to make: where to go next.
Shi’s wholesale clothing chain, which he opened eight years ago, has to be relocated under an integration plan for Beijing and neighboring Hebei Province and Tianjin Municipality.
Shi has rented a shop in the Baigou area of Baoding, Hebei, about a two-hour drive from Beijing, but he’s not sure whether he’ll move his business there.
“I have spent the past few months visiting different sites in different cities, which are offering incentives, but none of them seem good enough,” he said.
Shi’s indecision is shared by many wholesalers facing relocation. Beijing ordered markets to move to neighboring cities last year as part of an integration plan aimed at easing congestion and addressing other urban ills.
Since then, competition has flared among neighboring cities like Langfang, Shijiazhuang, Baoding and Tianjin, each offering incentives to lure businesses.
Dahongmen, which translates as “big red gate,” takes its name from the northern entrance of a royal garden established by a Chinese emperor about 600 years ago. Over the past two decades, it has developed into a large market.
Before the relocation plan began last year, Dahongmen had 25,000 shops in 45 small markets or sections. There were 57,000 vendors and it attracted a migrant workforce of 300,000 every year.
Most of the markets are now slated to be relocated. Lu Dawen, director of the relocation project, said only 10 sections will stay. The relocation will be finished by 2018, he said.
As the deadline approaches, tenants have said the lack of a timetable and clear procedures has been troubling.
“I still haven’t decided yet. I’ll look around and see how things are heading,” said Shi Ankai.
Jin Guijie, 50, runs a clothes store at Dongpi market in Beijing. Though business is bustling for now, he is worried about the future.
“My contract with the market expires in February. Although we have not received notice of moving, we are worried it may come eventually,” he said.
“What if I put my money in Hebei and no customers come? The old market is already struggling under the economy, let alone new ones,” he said.
Few doubt the purchasing power of the Chinese capital, whose people have an average annual disposable income of 43,910 yuan (US$6,900). In Hebei the figure is 24,220 yuan.
According to a poll of 10,000 vendors at Dahongmen, 65 percent said they do not want to leave Beijing. About 30 percent said they are willing to try business elsewhere, but do not find Hebei to be an ideal location.
A new Dahongmen market has been set up in Baigou, and about 1,500 business owners from Beijing have established operations there, said Zheng Gang, a senior manager of the market.
Business at the new Dongpi market in Langfang is also bleak. Daily customer flow is only 4,000, compared to 50,000 at the old Dongpi in Beijing before relocation started.
Wang Baisong was among the first group to leave Beijing. Last year, the 35-year-old moved his shops and warehouses from Dahongmen to Baigou.
In a town with a far lower cost of living, he said he has been able to buy an apartment and sends his two children to local schools.
“Relocation brought me a better quality of life. For others, I’m not sure. They need to get something from the relocation,” he said.
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