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For business owners in China, a touch-and-go reopening after zero-COVID

Jan 30, 2023
While China's most high-profile executives express unflagging optimism on TV, for small business owners, the picture is more complicated.
Food vendors at the Muslim quarter in Xi'an seem bored without customers in late December 2022. That was when COVID infections swept across China.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

Lunar New Year usually meant factory slowdowns. The pandemic changed that.

Jan 20, 2023
Traditionally, workers in parts of Asia travel during the holiday to spend time with family. Here's how COVID has changed that part of the supply chain.
Lunar New Year typically marks a time of slowed production in East Asia, but that changed during COVID. Above, an employee at a carbon fiber factory in China's eastern Jiangsu province.
AFP via Getty Images

Lunar New Year meal kits boom in London as restaurants remain in lockdown

Feb 12, 2021
Rather than travel to see extended family, the pandemic has forced a creative celebration for the start of the Lunar New Year.
View of Chinese lanterns ready to hang up in London's Chinatown.
May James/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

In China, chasing debt after the COVID-19 lockdown

Jun 23, 2020
Delayed payments are a normal part of doing business in China. That works OK when the economy is bustling — but not anymore.
A recent survey showed 66% of Chinese firms had clients delay payments last year. Then the pandemic hit.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

What people are (and aren't) spending money on during the coronavirus outbreak

Feb 19, 2020
Forgoing the Chinese Lunar New Year festivities means spending less money on partying and spending a lot of time indoors.
A vegetable stand in Wuhan City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Resident Tian Changxing said vegetables are in short supply in the city.
Tian Changxing

Shanghai and coronavirus: living in a ghost town

Feb 4, 2020
Our China correspondent takes us on a tour of the usually bustling financial center, where fears and precautions have made it eerily quiet. You can even hear the birds sing.
Marketplace's China correspondent Jennifer Pak used to wear face masks outdoors to protect against air pollution, but now the Chinese government advises residents to wear them whenever they are out of their homes.
Jennifer Pak/Marketpace

China's food deliverers have hectic schedules

Feb 6, 2019
High demand leads to a high-stress job for couriers.
Food deliverers have become an integral part of city living in China.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

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China's post-Lunar New Year job exodus

Mar 28, 2018
The two months after the holiday are traditionally "jobs season."
According to a survey by leading job site Zhaopin, nearly 70 percent of white-collar workers are starting a new job or actively looking to change jobs.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace