Meng Siyuan, a reporter based in Shanghai, was buying noodles, but the noodle vendor suddenly closed the stall and ran away.
“I was at a street vendor. Just a few minutes after I ordered the food, the hawker sister handed me the food and said,’Hey, hurry up, they are coming’… She was gone soon.”
It turned out that the stall owner heard that urban management law enforcement appeared nearby.
In the residential areas of many cities in China, this is a very familiar scene.
Many roadside vendors in China believe that they are playing a “cat and mouse” game with the local city management.
Meng Siyuan said: “This is very fierce, because in fact, Shanghai prohibits street stalls.”
Strict regulations make it more difficult for vendors to operate. They face the risk of suspending business, being fined, or confiscating their stalls.
China’s rapid modernization has allowed roadside vendors to fight for their livelihoods in some cities, while the authorities hope to eliminate roadside vendors.
Meng Siyuan said: “In Shanghai, or in China, there have been many roadside vendors… I really don’t want the roadside vendors to disappear completely.”
“My favorite junk food”
Shanghai food blogger Rachel Gouk said that for many Chinese, roadside stalls are an indispensable part of life.
All kinds of food can be found on the streets of China, and each city and region also has its own iconic cuisine.
Guo Yijun said: “The popular roadside food here is steamed buns with shredded pork or minced meat, and various sauces.”
Common roadside delicacies include pancakes, dumplings and pasta. At the same time, there are also some unusual delicacies, such as fired donkey meat and fried scorpion.
Vendors are open at all times, which provides convenience for workers and late-night diners working in Shanghai.
“I remember when I first moved to Shanghai in 2011, I saw a lot of things outside the nightclub in the middle of the night.[的路边摊摊贩]. Those stalls are very big, with all kinds of skewers in the world. “
Guo Yijun said: “I don’t know what meat it is, but I still ate it.”
However, it has become more and more difficult to eat these skewers, especially in an international metropolis like Shanghai.
“To achieve urban modernization, we must eliminate roadside stalls”
Xu Jianhua is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Macau. His research focuses on street vendors in Guangzhou.
He used to be a policeman.
“The government tends to think this is related to health and obstructs traffic. Sometimes people complain about it.[路边摊]It caused chaos in the streets,” he said.
“This is also related to the government’s definition of a modern city.”
Anna Greenspan, professor of global media at NYU Shanghai, also expressed her views.
Professor Greenspan helped set up a project called “Moveable Feasts”. The project mapped the location of roadside stalls in Shanghai and documented the decline of the industry.
Professor Greenspan said: “[在上海]There are gorgeous cocktail bars and high-end restaurants, but I also like to eat a bowl of noodles at a roadside stall… and this is getting harder and harder. “
China’s “Most Disgusting Person”
The front line of China’s movement to eliminate small merchants and hawkers on the streets is an unpopular city management.
Dr. Xu Jianhua said: “They are not the police themselves. They are employed by the local municipal government.”
They are famous for their excessive law enforcement and the use of violence to eliminate roadside vendors. Online videos all show violent clashes between urban management and hawkers across China.
A 2012 Human Rights Watch report analyzed Chinese media reports from July 2010 to March 2012 and found that 150 of them were related to claims of abuse by urban management.
However, Dr. Xu Jianhua said that such statements may be misleading.
Dr. Xu Jianhua admitted that urban management is not easy to do.
He said: “They are caught between the local government and the hawkers.”
“Urban management and street vendors have similar backgrounds. They are both from poor families.”
“Really good livelihood”
Although roadside stalls are an inexpensive and convenient dining option for millions of ordinary Chinese, it is also a livelihood for hawkers.
Professor Greenspan said that street stalls are essential to provide employment opportunities.
“China has been experiencing the fastest and most violent urbanization process in history… Moreover, for people who don’t have a lot of resources, selling things on the street is indeed a very good way to earn a living.”
Back on the streets of Shanghai, Meng Siyuan accepted an interview with the ABC’s “China Tonight” program at her roadside stand.
“I usually come here once or twice a month, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, after having a few drinks with friends in nearby bars. This is the perfect soul-recovering meal,” she said.
Meng Siyuan already knew the street stall owner quite well. She said that the stall had been in business for seven years.
“He comes from a small city near Shanghai… The stall owner and his wife moved to Shanghai around 2014,” she said.
It is also common for roadside vendors to move from rural to urban areas to seek a better life.
But it is not easy to survive.
A local hawker whom Meng Siyuan knew, who asked not to be named, said that he rarely meets with children from his hometown in Anhui.
He and his wife may sell 30 to 60 bowls of noodles every night, each for about two Australian dollars. They work every day from 9 o’clock in the evening to 2 o’clock in the morning.
Meng Siyuan said that the stall owner is caught by the city management about twice a month.
She said: “The penalty may be a fine of several hundred yuan, or the entire cart for his stall may be confiscated.”
Industry revitalization after the epidemic?
When the new crown epidemic broke out last year, China’s economy, like most parts of the world, had stagnated.
In order to restart the economy, some local governments in China have relaxed restrictions on street stalls.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also rarely showed goodwill to street stalls, calling them “fireworks in the world and China’s vitality.”
This speech once set off a wave of support for street vendors on the Internet. The topic “This year’s roadside stalls will no longer be included in the evaluation of civilized cities” has reached 120 million page views on the Internet.
Some netizens even posted funny pictures of superheroes opening roadside stalls to show their support.
A poll center in Guangzhou found that 70% of respondents hoped that the supervision of roadside stalls could be relaxed and return to the previous situation.
However, this revitalization may be short-lived.
Dr. Xu Jianhua said: “I guess this will not last long. This is only temporary, because people’s perceptions of what a modern city is has not systematically changed.”
Professor Greenspan said that the disappearance of roadside stalls would be a “tragedy.”
“Generally speaking, roadside stalls are a factor that makes a street or a block more active, thus giving a city its own culture.”
“China Tonight” (China Tonight) will premiere on the ABC main channel or ABC iview every Monday at 9:30 p.m.
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