Chinese shoppers buy as leaders shuffle through reshuffle

Who will be among the next generation of leaders? This was the question dominating talk inside the People's Great Hall yesterday.

But outside on the street you were more likely to hear Beijingers ask each other: "Where did you shop on 'double 11' day'?"

The mainland's three-year-old online shopping holiday - based on America's "cyber Monday" - received an unexpected boost from the 18th party congress as people went online on Sunday to escape the nonstop focus on the Communist Party's insular reshuffle.

The flight to online shopping sites has been particularly strong in the capital, where a series of policies enacted to make the city appear orderly throughout the politically sensitive event has discouraged people from straying far from home.

In recent weeks, Beijing municipal authorities have swept vendors from the streets, clamped down on unlicensed motorcycle taxis and enacted traffic controls to ensure easy passage for top officials' motorcades.

"Newspapers and TV screens are preoccupied with political news focused on the congress, which bores me to death," said Zheng Dan, an accountant with a multinational company.

"I used to find fun in bargaining with street vendors," he said. "But they disappeared from streets these days because of the congress. So I turned to online shops to look for attractive discounts.