China’s small-business owners tighten purse strings, embracing frugality as hardships and uncertainties mount
- Fearing for their livelihoods with little respite from the hardships of the pandemic, those who own micro and small enterprises are forced to find income elsewhere
- New data shows ‘backbone’ of China’s economy came under even greater pressure in recent months, while outlook for 2022 sends up more red flags
After running a garment production business in Guangdong province for more than 10 years, Wang Mei packed up her sewing machine this year and headed back to her rural countryside home, taking a job selling industrial ink in Dongguan.
Meanwhile, Zhang Liang, the owner of a small logistics firm in Shenzhen, intends to put operations on hold and return to his hometown in Hubei province to work as a truck driver at a quarry.
Since the onset of the pandemic, Wang and her husband borrowed nearly 500,000 yuan (US$78,600) from relatives to keep the garment factory afloat, but they were ultimately unable to cope with the mounting losses.
“Besides that, I have tens of thousands of yuan in credit card debt to pay off,” she said. “Market demand is so weak, so our products could not be sold, and they kept turning into inventory.