Most stores close amid inspection rumours

SHENYANG: Many stores have been closed down recently in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning province after a rumour was spread that the city has been fining the shop owners heavily in the name of cracking down on fake products and subquality services.

In the Dongbei Market where more than 80% of the stores are closed, a shop owner surnamed Tang said nearly all the 2,000 shops in the market were shut down on Monday.

In the Wu’ai Street, the Funing leather store is one of the few which are still open.

A staff member of the store said: “Although we have all the licenses, we are still worried, for the rumour said that the law enforcement personnel would find all kinds of reasons to fine us.”

Xinhua interviewed the four shop owners who were investigated by police last month in the Dongbei Market, but none of them said that they had been fined by an unreasonable amount or met with government’s abuse of power.

However, many still doubt that there are occurrences of illegal law enforcement during the cracking down behind the incident.

Local resident Yu Dewei said: “There is no smoke without fire. I doubt that the tension would have been caused by arbitrary

There is no smoke without fire. I doubt that the tension would have been caused by arbitrary fines. — YU DEWEI

fines.”

Responding to the incident, the spokesman for the city government said the government would perform duties strictly according to the law to provide a good environment for the development of the enterprises.

The government would protect the lawful rights of the shop owners and will investigate the behaviours of power abuse such as arbitrary fines, the spokesman said, adding that the shop owners and the local residents were encouraged to report such problems to the government through complaints hotline.

Zhang Sining, researcher with Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, said, the government should be more transparent when cracking down on subquality products and services and publish the relevant information including the investigation standards, the names of the investigated and the amount of the fines. — Xinhua