“You can’t survive if you don’t go out to make money, you have nothing to spend. Look at the situation now. Even if you are living in the village and are able to farm some land, you still need money to spend,” she said.
Mdm Wang and her husband said they are hopeful about the future, although things have not gone back to pre-pandemic times.
There was a similar sentiment among some small businesses.
“It should be said that it is much better than before, because after all you’re free to move about and can earn money, right? It’s much better than staying at home when I felt depressed at one point,” said 35-year-old Han Liyin, who owns cosmetics shop in a small town in Hebei’s Yutian county.
FOCUS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH
The Chinese government’s focus on economic growth comes as a necessity to reboot the economy post-COVID and to push forward other political goals, analysts said.
The private sector has been encouraged to grow in a “new normal”, noted senior China analyst at Eurasia Group Neil Thomas.
This includes a regulatory environment that emphasises the Communist Party’s role and alignment with geopolitical goals, as well as guiding private capital to invest in political priorities, such as the high-tech sector, he said.
This in a bid to mitigate the exposure to western sanctions, amid an ongoing technology war between China and the US.
“But it doesn’t mean that we’ve seen an end to politics and command in China. It’s really growth in a new political normal of maximum Xi,” he said.
Despite the mounting challenges he faces, analysts said Mr Xi’s standing is unlikely to be shaken.
Unhappiness over the zero-COVID policy has mostly dissipated, paving the way for him to be endorsed as president when the country’s largely ceremonial parliament convenes.
A sweeping reshuffle of state, legislature and advisory body positions is on the cards with a new premier set to take the helm.
The new leadership is expected to be filled by Mr Xi’s allies who have already been lined up in the Party’s top decision-making bodies at the Communist Party Congress last year.
FOCUS ON RELATIONSHIP WITH US
China’s troubled relations with the United States is also likely to be in focus as the country’s top legislature convenes in Beijing amid an ongoing row between the two countries over an alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down by the US over its airspace.
Newly appointed Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who was previously China’s ambassador to the US, is set to field questions from the media for the first time on the sidelines of the meetings it what is typically a closely watched news conference each year.