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China jobs
EconomyChina Economy

China jobs: street vending returns as popular, and sometimes lucrative, side hustle

  • In a difficult economic time when jobs are hard to come by, selling wares and trinkets on the streets has growing appeal
  • Shanghai is among cities encouraging people to set up street stalls in designated areas, and vendors are seeing more foot traffic in a post-Covid China

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A street vendor sells drinks last month in China’s Chongqing municipality, which has implemented a variety of nighttime activities this year to boost the so-called night economy. Photo: Xinhua
Mandy Zuoin Shanghai

Just two weeks after Linda Xiong started posting online about her street-vending experience, around 900 like-minded netizens joined the group chats she created on Xiaohongshu, China’s Instagram-like platform.

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Discussing ideal locations to set up street stalls, and popular goods among passers-by, some hoped to take on a side hustle after work, while others were looking to be full-time street vendors.

“I really don’t want to go back to work in the office,” one said.

“I just lost my job,” another said.

Xiong, who became a mobile vendor in 2020 when China promoted a “street vendor economy” to tackle unemployment in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, recently made a comeback after the central government dropped its zero-Covid policy.

“The government is encouraging people to set up street stalls in designated areas. So, I resumed business,” said the 31-year-old who sells mainly hand-knit toys near shopping malls around Shanghai. “So far, it’s not bad. I can make 20,000 yuan (US$2,900) a month if I work for most of the day.”

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