Upon hearing the news that China was to ease its COVID-19 restrictions in early December, Xie Dongfang heaved a sigh of relief. “The time has now come to reactivate my business plan,” Xie, founder of Shanghai-based scented candle brand ECOLIT, told Beijing Review.
Last year was difficult for Xie. “The candles and their packaging are produced by different factories in Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces and the repeated COVID-19 flareups and the ensuing control measures strongly influenced both production and logistics,” he said, adding that the months-long lockdown in Shanghai in the first half of 2022 sank his business into stagnation, in turn forcing him to surrender the tenancy agreement with a warehouse stockpiling his goods.
China’s virus containment efforts did show outstanding advantages in stabilizing
