The food markets of Dongdan, situated in eastern part of Beijing and built in the early stage of last century, Chaonei, also situated in the eastern part, Xidan, situated in the western part, and Chongwen, of the southern part and built in the 1970s, were all once renowned as being the four biggest food markets in Beijing. As part of the reconstruction of the Xidan and Dongdan, the Xidan and Dongdan food markets have both been removed. The former Chaonei food market site is now home to a large general store. In 1998, the Oshikai Group rebuilt the Chaonei food market however, the second floor is now a super market, and the third floor accommodates gourmet restaurants, leaving no room for the food market of a bygone era.
Flourishing All Year Round
Reflecting on the food market’s former glory years, the last manager of Xidan food market Yu Liqing said, “During the planed economic period, everything was in short supply. As a result the government gave supply priority to the four biggest food markets, especially on festivals and holidays. On such occasions, food items such as meat, fish, and chicken were in relatively abundant supply. In addition, there were few food markets in those days, so it was very common for people to go well out of their way just to buy essential food supplies.”
“Due to the importance of food markets, central and city leaders would inspect them before every important festival, ensuring that operators maintained adequate supplies on these special occasions,” Yu Liqing added. “Despite the lack of quality shopping environments back then, food markets managed to flourish all year round.”
Unavoidable Reconstructive Fate
Vice President of the Wu Mart Group Wu Jian noted that traditional food markets couldn’t extricate themselves from being reclaimed by modern supermarkets. He said supermarkets have two advantages when compared with traditional food markets. First, supermarkets can greatly reduce labor costs, by adopting a self-service approach, reducing the number of shop assistants required by these organizations. Second, chain supermarkets can lower the cost of a commodity’s purchasing prices enormously. Due to the large volumes purchased by chain supermarkets, the prices tendered by suppliers are generally much more favorable than those offered to smaller chains and single shop enterprises.
Historical Sign of Living Standard
Li Fei, associate professor at Tsinghua University’s school of Economics and Management, pointed out that, “with circumstances working against food markets, supermarkets and advantage stores are springing up like mushroom, incorporating all of the benefits of traditional food market’s plus many more. In today’s material world of increasing wealth and convenience, people no longer want to have to run downtown to the food market for live fish or chicken.
Having once being of such crucial importance, traditional food markets have now been replaced large supermarkets. This change may be considered just one of many indicators signaling China’s shift to an increasingly affluent and fast paced modern business world.
(china.org.cn by Li Xiao, September 24, 2002)
