⁍ In Beijing, local rock bands have been playing to enthusiastic crowds each weekend at the Temple Bar nestled in Beijing’s many winding ‘hutong’ alleyways.
⁍ The return of spending is as vital to business-to-business businesses as it is to consumer-facing businesses.
⁍ In the first nine months, China created 8.98 million urban jobs, nearly hitting the government’s full-year target of over 9 million.
– “Business is more or less back to pre-COVID levels,” says a bar owner in Beijing. “All we need right now is a vaccine. With that, everything can truly return to normal.” That’s the message from the owner of the Temple Bar, one of many bars in the Chinese capital that have resumed live performances after being shut down due to social distancing rules, Reuters reports. “Many, many meetings, many projects are coming back—it’s like the machine slowly restarts,” the bar owner says. “For an industry that was so hard-hit, we’re lucky in some ways that the industry has rebounded in this way.” But not all the good news is coming from the entertainment industry. “The services industry had been the most affected by COVID,” the chairman of the China Fashion Designers Committee tells Reuters. “Now, with restrictions being lifted, the industry is gradually emerging from its downturn, which would provide a strong boost to the broad recovery in the consumer market.”
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-consumption/packed-bars-and-mask-less-catwalks-with-covid-curbs-fading-china-set-for-consumption-rebound-idUSKBN27B0C3