Newsstands in the news is not good news

The haste with which newsstands in China are torn down shows an ignorance about the nature and vibrancy of culture

Earlier this month, 72 newsstands in Beijing's Chaoyang district were dismantled.

There were reports of sporadic scuffles between proprietors and those sent by the local authority to enforce the new rule.

Unlike many street peddlers, all of these newsstands were operating legally - with proper licenses and permits. They were given one month prior notice to clear off because they were seen as taking up crowded public space such as outside metro stations or next to pedestrian overpasses.

It seems local authorities have taken up a new definition for the fair use of public space. And Beijing is not alone.

There have been reports of similar incidents from other Chinese cities in recent years.

You might have thought that those who were suffering from the daily cramp would be applauding the moves, but no, they love the convenience of the stands.

Moreover, as voiced in the Chinese-language press, they overwhelmingly see them as a sign of a city's cultural vibrancy.

City officials explained that many of these booths were simply being moved to "better locations", such as quiet streets where no danger exists of human traffic being blocked.

This shows a severe deficiency of business sense on the part of these city managers.

Who in his right mind would go out of his way to make an impulse purchase?

Newsstands operate in busy streets for the same reason warehouses are located far from downtown areas.

Unsurprisingly, those who meekly obliged with such relocation orders quickly found themselves in financial trouble and many folded after their income plummeted.

Even without such overzealous meddling from city managers, Chinese people's favorite spot for obtaining news in good old-fashioned print is fast losing ground to the erosive power of digital technology.

About a decade ago, newsstands in Chinese cities were doing brisk business and each one could support a family.

Nowadays, sales have been fallen so much that they either have to sell other merchandise or close shop entirely.

This crackdown in the name of cleanup could well turn out to be the last nail in the coffin for this type of small business.

As a management tactic, this is very much in line with how Chinese cities deal with all kind of street vendors.

From the perspective of city officials, street stalls that sell trinkets or fruit or snacks constitute a major eyesore. They block traffic and litter around. So, they are to be kicked out by chengguan, literally city management staff, a quasi-police whose measures have been strongly criticized by the public - to the point that the word chengguan has become a catchall for hooligan-like people.

If you visit Hong Kong or Taipei, you'll come to the conclusion that the Chinese penchant for hustle and bustle does not have to come at the expense of blocked traffic or littered sidewalks.

Yes, there should be rules, but rules are made not to make it easy for city officials, but rather, easy for the public.

Operating hours and locations of these street stands can be calibrated to accommodate the neighborhood, the clientele as well as the businesses.

Rules must be made by taking into account the needs and input of all sides affected by these businesses, and once agreed on every party must abide by them.

Most commentators defend the newsstand owners from a legal or cultural distribution point of view. These are all valid, but the real danger lies in the singular take on culture and gentrification.

It doesn't matter whether such a stand sells soup or soft drinks or newspapers, they exist because there is real demand.

When so many prefer to make these purchases there rather than in a shining shopping mall, it forms a lifestyle which is part of our cultural fabric.

In the eyes of some city managers, such booths are a reminder of a bygone era when poverty forced buyers and sellers onto the street.

They wanted to erase the humiliation by driving businesses into glittering highrises. But in their eagerness for modernization, they forgot that some businesses can never afford to rent space in a mall and some customers would prefer to buy certain things around a street corner.

This is not a hypothesis. A walk in New York or London or Hong Kong would quickly confirm the necessity of this much more primitive, down-to-earth way of conducting business.

Suffice to say, malls and boutiques have not supplanted the old way even though they have become the mainstream mode of shopping.

Not only is selling newspapers and magazines through street stands disparaged, but many other forms of grassroots way of life are treated as vestiges of antiquity that should be abolished and cleaned up. Take the history of local opera.

They sprouted from unglamorous rural entertainment and folksy rituals such as weddings and funerals. They were all "elevated" to the formal theater where many lost touch with their target audience and died away.

Once they no longer had the viability to sustain themselves, the government would usually step in and provide generous funding in an effort to put them on a life-support system. All in the name of protecting culture.

Other than antiques and relics, culture does not need protection as much as respect.

Culture as it happens is often messy. It may not have the validation of professors or UNESCO. It is essentially a way of life by a certain segment of the populace. If you artificially lift a cultural phenomenon to a level unfit for its height, you'll risk breaking off its roots.

Take online fiction. It is booming and much of it is trash. But out of this plethora of online output there will be some gems.

The Writers Association has been attempting to give it authenticity with memberships and professional guidance. It all sounds great, but if the measures are heavy-handed they will only hasten the demise of this literary sub-genre.

The market could be a much better arbiter than so-called experts for all their good intention.

Have you seen the automated libraries at Beijing's street corners? They look very fancy and I'm sure they are very expensive to build. But I have never seen a single patron using them. I once spent half an hour visiting one and trying to figure out everything.

For a start, there is no rhyme or reason for the very limited selection of titles. Are they supposed to cater to the local neighborhood or migrant workers who cannot afford to buy books? I cannot make any sense out of the titles.

But I must say the glassy machine looks very impressive and I can imagine city officials exclaiming "This adds culture to our city!"

Once all the real newsstands are abolished, some experts will say newsstands denote the level of a city's culture and city managers will take notice. Then expensive automatic selling machines of newspapers and magazines will be installed. But nobody will show up to buy them.

By that time, everyone will have turned to digital reading. So, the fancy booths will be like simulated ancient architecture currently on a building spree in China, while truly old houses are demolished.

The writer is editor-at-large of China Daily. Contact him at raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/15/2014 page30)