2 | Monday, May 25, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO Helping hand offered on road to recovery
Series of measures introduced to assist small businesses as Wuhan gets back to work again
By CUI JIA on water and electricity bills, but it’s government to support small and and LIU KUN in Wuhan very timeconsuming,” he said. microbusinesses. Ren has drawn up a plan in case Although property owners are tarting the day with break his business fails. “I will return to being urged to give such businesses fast at the numerous small Xiangyang and become a farmer rent exemptions for three months, noodle restaurants scat again, but I really enjoy having a Wang has not heard any such news tered around Wuhan, laugh with my regular customers from management of the office SHubei province, has always been a while making noodles. I would cer building she rents from. proud local tradition. tainly miss that.” Smallscale taxpayers in Hubei However, the novel coronavirus On the other side of Wuhan, Wang have been exempted from paying 3 outbreak denied residents this sim Qiong’s company office was fully percent valueadded tax up to Dec ple pleasure, with such businesses disinfected on April 22, as business 31. The VAT rate for such taxpayers having to close to prevent the out es in the city were resuming normal elsewhere in the country has been break spreading. operations. reduced to 1 percent. As a result, their reopening has When Wang, the founder of A further measure has been intro been heralded as a significant event, DyData, a company providing servi duced to help businesses in Hubei signaling that the city hardest hit by ces for the collection and visualiza cut operational costs. the virus in China is recovering. tion of data, saw a halfeaten packet Companies such as DyData have But Ren Yang, 33, who owns one of biscuits lying on a table and had been exempted from paying of the eateries, needs all the help he to throw away dead plants, she employee pension, unemployment can get to keep his business run became a little emotional. and employment injury insurance ning. “My family has survived the “It feels as if the pandemic has contributions for five months from outbreak, but I am not so sure my lasted for a century. The dusty office February, while employees retain restaurant can,” he said. is almost like an archaeological site their benefits. “I normally serve more than 200 — it was a different world before the Wang said: “For business owners people during the morning rush hour A resident tucks into a bowl of outbreak,” she said. in Wuhan, getting through the after every day, but I have only had about hot dry noodles in Wuhan on On Jan 20, DyData, which now math of the outbreak is just as diffi 40 customers each morning since I April 9 for the first time in 76 employs about 30 people, held a cult as surviving the pandemic. reopened the restaurant on April 12.” days. GUO ZHIHUA / FOR CHINA DAILY banquet ahead of Spring Festival. Every penny counts.” Ren, from Xiangyang, Hubei, Those attending wore face masks, as As an innovative company, DyDa about 340 kilometers from Wuhan, the number of people infected with ta receives an annual grant of opened the restaurant, which has COVID19 in the city had started to 600,000 yuan from the Wuhan gov just four tables, in June. rise. ernment, which is planning to By the end of last year, the city was Many small Wang said, “Afterward, we attract more startups to the city. home to 739,000 owners of small assessed the situation and immedi Unlike previous years, the company and microbusinesses. These enter businesses in the city ately asked employees not to come had received 400,000 yuan by last prises accounted for about 60 per won’t survive the to work, starting from the next day, month — a pleasant surprise for cent of the businesses in Wuhan. but I never thought it would take Wang. The pandemic has had a grave pandemic, but those three months before I could sit in “Normally, the government trans impact on them, and more impor that are left will the office again.” fers the grant to our bank account at tant, the livelihoods of hardwork On Jan 23, Wuhan was put under the end of the year. Because of the ing owners and their families. certainly have great lockdown to prevent the virus pandemic, it decided to give us the Ren spoke while making a bowl of potential.” spreading to other areas of the coun money much earlier to help us get hot dry noodles for a customer, sea try. “I asked our employees to report through the hard times,” she said. soning them with his signature sesa Lyu Jiang, 37yearold business their health status every day. It’s my “I am told that the rest of the mon me paste and chili oil, which keep man selling laminate flooring in responsibility to help them if they ey will be transferred as soon as pos Wuhan diners coming back. become infected,” Wang said. sible. The grant alone can cover the His customers are mainly resi She and her employees knew that company’s operating costs for two dents from nearby apartment adjustments and cutbacks had to be months, meaning we can keep going blocks, along with students and staff and microbusinesses survive have made to keep DyData afloat — the while seeking new opportunities.” members from universities, which been introduced nationwide, as case with most small businesses sig remain closed. Although the lock these enterprises are crucial to nificantly affected by the pandemic. Concern about future down imposed in Wuhan was lifted local economies, employment and To ensure employees were paid in Meanwhile, Lyu Jiang, 37, who on April 8, many people are still not social stability. full and on time, the company’s sells laminate flooring in Wuhan, is eating out or even venturing out On April 27, Tang Renjian, gov management team, including worrying more about the future of doors, he said. ernor of Gansu province, said at a Wang, decided to take a 50 percent his business than becoming infected “They are still worried about the meeting called to discuss the pay cut. with the virus. pandemic, although it has been con development of such businesses: “I know how important a stable “Help is available if I get the virus, tained. Wuhan people have been “Helping them get through the income is for my employees and but I will have to fight for my liveli through hell, so they are extremely outbreak is a matter of the utmost their families during these tough hood alone,” Lyu said. He has several sensitive to any new developments gravity. The risks of unemploy times, so I don’t want to make any showrooms around the city — all of regarding the pandemic,” Ren said. ment and bad debts will surely redundancies. It will be quite an which had to be closed due to the surface if they cannot survive. Fur achievement if I can help the lockdown. People worried thermore, this may lead to social employees and the company get Lyu, who believes that business After 35 consecutive days with no problems. through the pandemic,” she said. will boom after the outbreak, has new infections, six COVID19 cases “We cannot just make beautiful Staff members can work from kept in touch with loyal customers were reported in Wuhan on May 9 promises, but must ensure that home, and demand for the compa through social media. and May 10, all in the same neigh business owners actually receive ny’s services has been high, she said, “People always need to decorate borhood. People were worried, and the help they desperately need.” adding, “As a hightech company, we houses, whether a property is new Ren’s business, which was slowly The second quarter is crucial for are actually more riskresistant.” or old. When they are finally able to picking up, took a hit again. such businesses to recover as the Travel restrictions resulting from do so, demand for laminate flooring “I lose money when I open up, but outbreak in China stabilizes, Tang the lockdown meant that investors will surge,” he said. I lose more if I don’t. This is the said, adding, “The government planning to visit the company on He has been busy with arrange dilemma I face, as do the other own must help these businesses as soon “inspection missions” had to post ments for his employees to under ers of small private businesses in the as possible, before it’s too late.” pone their trips. go health checks and be tested for area,” he said. Ren, the noodle restaurant own In addition, people returning COVID19, an essential require “I was worried about my health er, said he had heard on the news from visits to Wuhan still need to be From top: Workers prepare takeout deliveries at the Cailinji restau ment before they can return to when the outbreak in the city was of the assistance being offered to quarantined for 14 days in some cit rant in Wuhan, Hubei province. ZHANG CHANG / CHINA NEWS SERVICE Build work and visit people’s homes to severe, and now I am worried about business owners such as himself. ies, including Beijing, which has ers work at the construction site for a shopping mall in Wuhan after fit flooring. my livelihood. The pressure is just He hopes that someone can sit deterred many from traveling to the helping complete two makeshift hospitals. XIAO YIJIU / XINHUA The own “Many small businesses in the city too much, because my family down with him to talk him through Hubei provincial capital. er of a small business resumes work in the city. SUN XINMING / CHINA NEWS won’t survive the pandemic, but depends on the restaurant. It will the help he is eligible for and Without investment, Wang has to SERVICE Nightlife returns to Hannan district in Wuhan. CHU LIN / FOR those that are left will certainly have certainly be a tough year for all peo explain how much money he can be resourceful in finding money CHINA DAILY great potential,” he said. ple in Wuhan, not just myself.” save as a result. elsewhere to support the company. On April 18, the city authorities “I’ve been asking different depart She has been carefully studying Contact the writers at issued a directive to help small and ments about tax cuts and discounts measures introduced by the Wuhan [email protected] microbusinesses get through the tough times, with tenants of State owned properties receiving a three month rent exemption and a reduction for a further six months. Most owners of small and micro businesses, including Ren, rent from private property owners, who have the option of helping their ten ants, or not. On April 21, a State Council execu tive meeting decided to ease the rental pressure for such businesses. Property leasers offering rental exemptions or reductions were giv en a tax cut as encouragement for private property owners to help businesses such as Ren’s. “I have to pay about 10,000 yuan ($1,408) a month in rent, which is the biggest expense for my business. I spoke to my landlord, and he agreed to an exemption for Februa ry and March after hearing that he would receive a property tax cut. I really appreciate this. Something is better than nothing,” Ren said. He has already paid rent up to next month, but if he cannot pay it on time for the second half of this year, he will face losing his business. Ren, who employs four people, including his sister, said: “I will let four families down if I can’t carry on. The clock is ticking.” Similar measures to help small Employees from companies in Caidian district, Wuhan, line up to undergo nucleic acid testing for the coronavirus. CHEN XUEZI / FOR CHINA DAILY