With heavy rains flooding Shanghai , the weibo (China’s twitter-like micro blog) flooded with the news with pictures of thousands private shops, restaurants and groceries closed their doors , fearing heavy fines during the upcoming administrative reviews of their business operations in Shenyang city , capital of Liaoning province  .

Rumors of the municipal government campaign of anti-counterfeit or crackdown on “poor hygienic conditions” triggered the small businessowners panic. They closed their stores, preferring to forego the audits and not suffer any great financial losses.

 

A wide-carried version goes like this: a toothpicks seller was fined 50,000 yuan because he had no “license fordeforestation”, and a grandma selling tofu (bean curd) was fined 200because she didn’t wear a mask. Some blame the massive operation for the upcoming China National Games (which will be hold in the autumn of 2013),because the government lacks of money.

Now , the wave of store closures has spread to other cities in Liaoning Province, including Dalian, Anshan, Benxi and Fushun. News reports said about 90 percent of the stores in the province’s Liaozhong County had already closed their doors.

This has made life inconvenient for local residents. “The situation drives me crazy. I can’t buy ice cream around the community since all the convenience shops are closed these days,” saidGuo Xiaoguang, who lives in the Changbai area of Shenyang.

“Stay in Liaozhong (a county Liaoning) for five days, and you may be starved for death”, a local resident told media, who couldn’t find a shop to buy rice.

The government of Shenyang city denied the rumors of harsh inspections and large fines on Monday. But it didn’t work .Thousands shops still closed to avoid inspections . On Tuesday the government called for businesses to reopen .It was said that government announced the new order to prohibit  shop owners from suspending their business and spreading the rumors .

 

2012 .8.6