Anyone who has gone to Beijing must at least have heard about the Yashow garment market, if not paid it a visit on the Workers Stadium Avenue in the Sanlitun neighbourhood.
Some 27 years ago, back in 1987, the Workers Stadium Avenue was a very different place than it is today. At that time, it was dull and deserted, lacking the myriad of shops and bars that currently dot the area and whose neon lights glisten all through the night. At that time, a yellow building was wedged in between the rows of grey brick housing blocks. In its rear stood the unassuming façade of the “Kylin Hotel,” with its few dozen shabby rooms and usually empty and always poorly lighted restaurant serving bad food. Small businesses occupied the area in front of the establishment—handful of dens serving “jiaozi” (Chinese dumplings which are like raviolis) and some garment peddlers, privately owned, making them among the first such businesses in China daring to “dive into the sea” and heed Deng Xiaoping’s admonition that “to get rich is glorious.”
It turned out that the future belonged to these pioneering garment shops. In 2003, the unsuccessful Kylin Hotel went out of business giving way to a bazaar, which was named Yashow. Its 700 stalls were rented out to independent retailers, and the place became a bustling success, constantly packed by visitors keen on getting good deals on fancy footwear, knock-off Vuitton bags, along with all kinds of jumpers, coats or underwear. Dozens of tourist buses, full of people visiting Beijing from every continent, quickly began stopping at Yashow. These people, together with the local expatriates and Chinese residents of Beijing, flocked to the bazaar. Many came by car, creating big traffic jams every day. All were anxious to buy cashmere scarves, angora jumpers, silk boleros, and tailored suits at dirt cheap prices.
Not everything was sweetness and light at Yashow. Uneducated vendors, mainly former peasants, harassed visitors, grabbing their arms and addressing them in poor English. Unskilled buyers fell prey to those touts, paying way too much for substandard garments and shoddy merchandise. And, of course, the labels of famous brands stitched on the backs of most items sought to hide the fact that these were all fake. But all in all, this Yashow place was a phenomenal success, generating adventure and happiness for the buyers, while providing thousands of jobs, not just for the vendors, but the garment workers, making the footwear and clothing in poor provinces far from Beijing as well.
On December 27th last year, 12 years after it began operation, the bazaar was closed down, due to a decision by the Beijing Municipal Government. All shopkeepers had to pack their remaining stock on three wheelers or trucks. “As a part of Beijing’s new development plan,” or so declared the official notice, “due to expiration of contract,” and “to avoid the security risks and guarantee the market’s safety,” the building will be refurbished. It will reopen next April, with the promise of being bigger and more luxurious than before. But what kind of refitting will be undertaken here? The only information volunteered by the authorities so far is that piping and bathrooms would be modernized and improved.
However, as the shopkeepers have already learned, the new leases and rents, are certainly going to steeply rise, becoming so high that most of those who I interviewed are adamant about not being able to come to the new and refurbished Yashow building. To put the problem in a nutshell, one need only ask, “ why compromise the success of a winning team?"
To follow the story, read my next post here.
