Around 2012, my mom opened a framing shop in an antique market, operating as an individual business with a business license. The industrial and commercial, fire, and market personnel often wanted free framing services. At first, my mom was reluctant, as these people could easily cause trouble for us in terms of sanitation fees, electricity bills, and water charges by just informing the market management. Later on, she learned to adapt, offering free framing services to these officials, allowing them to choose any calligraphy or painting in the shop. Framing was originally a small business with fierce competition. Some established shops were not to be messed with by these officials, so they particularly liked to bully those less established shops, providing free framing services to them frequently. Today it's for a friend, tomorrow it's for a relative. After three years of hard work, my mom realized that the money earned was not as much as working for someone else.
In 2015, my friend and I rented a storefront on the second floor of a residential area to open an art studio, with my friend holding 70% of the shares, so we used his identity to register the business license. Since the art studio opened, the fire department and urban management often made things difficult for us. When arranging the fire extinguishers, even the direction of the nozzles was scrutinized. Later, we were informed by the fire department to spend thirty thousand on a set of surveillance cameras from a recommended company to pass the inspection. My friend negotiated the price down to fourteen thousand and bought the surveillance system. We even gave the person a pack of cigarettes to finally meet the fire safety requirements. The surveillance system, priced at fourteen thousand, was just a low-configured computer with two cameras, not even reaching 1080p resolution. Then there were those street office officials, the most annoying of them all. They had no enforcement power, but due to their connections with various departments, a simple greeting from them could prevent us from opening the studio. They would bring in their numerous children to learn for free at our studio, and occasionally, we had to treat them to a meal. After two years of mental exhaustion, we decided to cancel the business license and rent a house in the residential area to operate informally, which eliminated these troubles, but we lost the advantage of being on the main street, resulting in a significant drop in student enrollment.
In 2019, my parents planned to open a cooked food store in the market. All the procedures were completed, and the storefront was rented. The head of our street came to ask my family to buy his wife's secret recipe for cooking meat, and in the future, all ingredients had to be purchased from his wife, hinting that he must be given a share in the business. The recipe was priced at fifty thousand. My parents decided to delay the matter, but the person returned to say that the store could not open without buying the recipe. Within a few days, the landlord informed my parents that the storefront would not be rented to them. As a result, the cooked food store closed within two weeks of opening.
I have a relative who is a puppet for a department in the provincial city investment sector. Only he could obtain approvals for certain projects, leaving others sidelined. Although he was in the limelight, he only got a small share while others enjoyed the benefits. He made a net profit of ten million yuan each year. Then he left, opened a milk powder store and a tea shop, both of which were doing fine. He managed everything smoothly, including dealing with fire safety, industrial and commercial matters, and tax issues. He invested five million to open a budget hotel in a nearby satellite city. The renovation cost over three million, and the remaining two million were used to purchase essential equipment like TV beds. He also greased the wheels with various people. However, after the opening, the hotel was subjected to intense inspections by various parties. Within six months of operation, the hotel was only open for less than a month in total. Eventually, someone approached him to sell the hotel. He was mentally exhausted and finally sold the budget hotel for eight hundred thousand to a local person, who didn't even change the signboard and started a successful business.
In China, anyone who has engaged in small business dealings and interacted with these officials has faced challenges and become what the pro-government supporters call "gods."