COVID-19 pandemic or not, Beijing diners won't be denied their Peking duck - CNA

BEIJING: As restaurants in the Chinese capital drift in the doldrums of a COVID-19 ban on dining in, one eatery manager and his army of chefs have set up stalls on the pavement to keep alive some of the old magic and drum up sales of their big seller, Peking duck.

The ban on customers eating in, imposed this month, means restaurants have to rely on takeaway to survive.

For customers of the Ziguangyuan Restaurant, the carving of the duck and slicing of its succulent crispy skin at the table was part of the dining experience.

Manager Zheng Po has set out to save that gastronomic spectacle, putting up stalls outside his restaurant so his takeaway customers can watch their duck get carved.

"Our Peking duck sales have even gone up," Zheng, 35, told Reuters outside his restaurant as a queue of customers waited.

"Our sales of the ducks are even better than what they were before this round of COVID control measures."

To meet the new demand for the takeaway ducks, Zheng's chefs get to work at 6am, two and half hours earlier than when the restaurant used to open its doors for sit-down diners.

The chefs roast the birds until they are a shiny, golden brown, ready for the first takeaway customers who arrive as early as 8am.

One customer, who identified herself as just Zhao, said her priority during the pandemic was getting food on the table but she appreciated the effort to keep alive some of the old enjoyment.

"In normal times ... customers are not only coming to eat but also want to experience the service too," Zhao said before headed home with her duck.

The stakes are high for Zheng, who likened the effort to help his business to a battle. He declined to disclose his sales figures.

Even before the May 1 ban on dining in, Beijing's hospitality sector had been rocked by COVID. In April, the city's catering revenue plunged 25.33 per cent from a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on January-April data from the city's statistics bureau.

"My biggest wish is that the pandemic can be over as soon as possible so dining in can resume," said Zheng. 

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2022-05-18 07:54:00Z
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China's economy skids as lockdowns hit factories, retailers - CNA

BEIJING: China's retail and factory activity fell sharply in April as wide COVID-19 lockdowns confined workers and consumers to their homes and severely disrupted supply chains, casting a long shadow over the outlook for the world's second-largest economy.

Full or partial lockdowns were imposed in major centres across the country in March and April, including the most populous city Shanghai, hitting production and consumption and heightening risks for those parts of the global economy heavily dependent on China.

Retail sales in April shrank 11.1 per cent from a year earlier, the biggest contraction since March 2020, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday (May 16), a steeper decline than forecast in a Reuters poll.

Factory production fell 2.9 per cent from a year earlier, dashing expectations for a rise and the largest decline since February 2020, as anti-virus measures snarled supply chains and paralysed distribution.

Analysts now warn China's current downturn may be harder to shake off than the one seen during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, with exports unlikely to swing higher and policymakers limited in their stimulus options.

"The upshot is that while the worst is hopefully over, we think China's economy will struggle to return to its pre-pandemic trend," Capital Economics analysts said.

The weak data sent China's blue-chip stock index into the red in a sharp reversal from morning gains and also put an end to the brief rally seen other Asian markets on Monday.

Industrial output around the Yangtze River Delta, which includes Shanghai, fell 14.1 per cent in April, while that in China's northeast shrank 16.9 per cent. Both regions saw a more than 30 per cent dive in retail sales.

In step with the unexpected industrial output decline, China processed 11 per cent less crude oil in April, with daily throughput the lowest since March 2020. In the same month, power generation fell 4.3 per cent, the lowest since May 2020.

"In April, the epidemic had a relatively big impact on the economic operation, but this impact was short-term and external," Fu Linghui, a spokesperson at China's statistics bureau, said at a press conference in Beijing on Monday.

Fu said he expects the economy to improve in May with COVID-19 outbreaks in Jilin, Shanghai and other places coming under control.

Fixed asset investment, which Beijing is counting on to prop up the economy as exports lose momentum, rose 6.8 per cent in the first four months, compared with an expected 7.0 per cent rise.
 

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2022-05-16 02:19:00Z
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Shanghai achieves 'zero COVID' status but normal life is weeks away - CNA

A social media account ran by the Communist Party's official People's Daily newspaper posted photographs on Monday evening that it said showed breakfast joints, restaurants and hairdressers opening up.

But one social media user described the post as "nonsense".

"We have been locked in at home for two months ... This story is meant for anyone else other than people in Shanghai."

By Tuesday morning, the post had been deleted.

A video posted by another state-backed media outlet announced the reopening of an Alibaba Freshippo grocery store, showing about 10 members of staff in hazmat suits making heart shapes with their hands, but only two people who looked like shoppers.

A sign on the shop's door showed customers had to show a negative COVID-19 test, a pass showing they are allowed out of home and an up-to-date mobile phone health app to go in.

Only 20 customers are allowed into the store at any one time.

In all, Shanghai reported fewer than 1,000 new cases for May 16, all inside areas under the strictest controls. In relatively freer areas, the ones monitored to gauge progress in eradicating the outbreak, no new cases were found for a third day.

"PERSISTENT DRAG"

Beijing's latest daily caseload was 52, with authorities discovering a few dozen new infections on an almost daily basis despite gradually tightening restrictions over the past three weeks or so.

Dine-in services are banned in the capital, some malls and other businesses are shut, public transport is curtailed and many residents have been advised to work from home.

Residents in some COVID-affected parts of Beijing's Fengtai district were ordered not to leave their neighbourhoods, state television reported on Tuesday.

In Beijing's largest district, Chaoyang, some compounds have closed side exits while main gates are manned by volunteers checking health credentials on the mobile app authorities use to track COVID-19.

Security personnel patrolled the banks of the nearby Liangma canal, which has become a picnic spot in recent weeks for residents not allowed to go elsewhere. Signs had been put up asking people to "avoid crowds, gatherings and eating together".

Data this week showed the havoc wreaked on the economy by the lockdown in Shanghai and the curbs in dozens of other major cities, with retail sales and industrial output plunging at their fastest pace in more than two years in April.

China's uncompromising "zero COVID" policy has placed hundreds of millions of consumers and workers under various restrictions at a time when the rest of the world is lifting them to "live with the virus" even as infections spread.

But the difficulty of eliminating new outbreaks, as shown by Beijing's struggles, raises concern over the sustainability of any return to normal life in Shanghai and elsewhere once restrictions are lifted.

China's unswerving commitment to the zero-COVID policy, no matter the economic costs, means questions over the outlook will linger.

"The pace of recovery is likely to depend on the speed of normalisation in Shanghai and Beijing and how fast confidence will return to the private sector," Societe Generale strategists said in a note.

"On both points, the zero-COVID strategy could be a persistent drag."

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2022-05-17 04:19:00Z
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Beautiful song shows Ukraine's bravery, NATO deputy says lauding Eurovision win - CNA

BERLIN: Eurovision and NATO might not usually be associated, but on Sunday (May 15) the military alliance's deputy chief congratulated Ukraine for winning the annual music contest with a "beautiful song", calling it a testament to its bravery in fighting Russia.

Foreign ministers from the 30-member alliance NATO gathered in Berlin on Sunday to discuss Finland and Sweden's possible membership to the alliance and its strategy in the face of what NATO deputy secretary general Mircea Geoana said was Russia's "unjustified" invasion of Ukraine.

"I would like to congratulate Ukraine for winning the Eurovision contest. And this is not something I'm making in a light way. Because we have seen yesterday the immense public support all over Europe and Australia for the bravery… Of course the song was beautiful, it is beautiful," the diplomat said.

Geoana took the helm on Sunday as his boss Jens Stoltenberg could not take part in the Berlin meeting after testing positive for COVID--19 earlier this week.

Saturday's marathon Eurovision song contest saw The Kalush Orchestra pip the United Kingdom with their entry "Stefania", and Geoana sought to link its victory with Ukraine's fight against Russia and the alliance's solidarity with Kyiv.

Geoana said NATO wanted to send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that despite starting the most "brutal and cynical" conflict since the Second World War, Ukraine continued to surprise with its bravery and the West with its unity.

"So I'm saying that we are united. We are strong, (and) will continue to help Ukraine in winning this war," he said.

Moscow describes its actions as a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an unprovoked war.

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2022-05-15 09:46:52Z
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Shanghai aims to reopen more businesses after weeks of COVID-19 lockdown, Beijing battles on - CNA

SHANGHAI/BEIJING: Shanghai will gradually begin reopening businesses such as shopping malls and hair salons in China's financial and manufacturing hub from Monday (May 16) after weeks in strict COVID-19 lockdown, while Beijing battles a small but stubborn outbreak.

All but shut down for more than six weeks, Shanghai is tightening curbs in some areas that it hopes marks a final push in its campaign against the virus, which has infuriated and exhausted residents of China's largest and most cosmopolitan city.

Shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets will begin resuming in-store operations and allow customers to shop in "an orderly way", while hair salons and vegetable markets will reopen with limited capacity, Vice Mayor Chen Tong told a media briefing on Sunday.

He gave no specifics on the pace or extent of such reopenings, and many residents reacted online with scepticism.

"Who are you lying to? We can't even go out of our compound. You can open up, no one can go," said a user of China's Twitter-like Weibo, whose IP showed as being from Shanghai.

During Shanghai's lockdown, residents have been mainly limited to purchasing necessities, with normal shopping on online platforms largely suspended.

And while barbers and hairdressers have been giving haircuts on the street or in open areas of housing compounds, residents recently able to leave their homes for a few hours at a time to walk or buy groceries have generally appeared more dishevelled than usual.

OUTLIER APPROACH

China's strict "dynamic zero" approach to COVID-19 has put hundreds of millions of people in dozens of cities under curbs of varying degrees in an attempt to eliminate the spread of the disease. The curbs are wreaking havoc on the world's second-largest economy even as most countries try to return to normal life despite continued infections.

New bank lending hit the lowest in nearly four and half years in April as the pandemic jolted the economy and weakened credit demand, central bank data showed on Friday.

The Asian Football Confederation said on Saturday that China had pulled out of hosting the 2023 Asian Cup finals due to the COVID-19 crisis. This followed China's cancellation or postponement of numerous international sporting events it was scheduled to hold in the second half of 2022.

The decision on the soccer tournament prompted social media speculation in China that its zero-COVID policy could persist well into next year.

China managed to keep COVID-19 at bay after it was first discovered in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, but has struggled to contain the highly infectious Omicron variant. The head of the World Health Organization said last week China's approach not "sustainable".

But the country is widely expected to stick with its approach at least until the congress of the ruling Communist Party, which is historically in the autumn, where President Xi Jinping is poised to secure a precedent-breaking third five-year leadership term.

Case numbers in Shanghai continued to improve, with 1,369 daily symptomatic and asymptomatic infections reported, down from 1,681 a day earlier.

Importantly, the city reported no new cases outside of quarantined areas after finding one a day earlier. Consistently achieving zero cases outside quarantined areas is a key factor for officials determining when they can reopen the city.

Shanghai has achieved its zero-COVID target in more thinly populated suburban districts and started easing curbs there first, such as allowing shoppers to enter supermarkets.

But it continued to tighten restrictions in many areas over the past two weeks, especially in the city centre, curtailing deliveries and putting up more fencing.

In most of Beijing, restaurants were shut for dining-in and residents have been urged to stay or work from home. Parks and other entertainment venues have been closed, sending many people onto streets or into the gardens of their housing compounds to enjoy fine spring weather.

In the large Chaoyang district, residents were reminded by text message and in some instances by door knocks to get their daily COVID-19 test as the capital scrambles to cut infection chains. 

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2022-05-15 04:31:00Z
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Chinese Stocks Stand Out as Rare Winners in Global Equity Rout - Bloomberg

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Chinese Stocks Stand Out as Rare Winners in Global Equity Rout  BloombergView Full coverage on Google News
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2022-05-14 00:00:00Z
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Elon Musk says US$44 billion Twitter deal temporarily on hold - CNA

Elon Musk said on Friday (May 13) his US $44 billion deal for Twitter was temporarily on hold, citing pending details on spam and fake accounts.

"Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5 per cent of users," Musk said in a tweet.

Shares of the social media company fell 20 per cent in premarket trading. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company had earlier this month estimated that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5 per cent of its monetisable daily active users during the first quarter.

It also said it faced several risks until the deal with Musk is closed, including whether advertisers would continue to spend on Twitter.

Musk, the world's richest man and the chief executive of Tesla, had said that one of his priorities would be to remove "spam bots" from the platform.

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2022-05-13 09:58:00Z
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