Mom-'n-pop stores: cure for Chinese bureaucracy?

China needs more small stores run by husband-and-wife teams to improve the supply of goods and overcome the bureaucratic style of work in some state-run stores, according to the People's Daily. It said in a commentary that some people thought this was tantamount to restoring capitalism but that in fact small businesses could meet the needs of the people and provide pleasant service.

"Their existence not only supplements state-controlled commerce but also can help to change the monopolistic and inflexible tendencies of state-controlled commerce and help to overcome a certain bureaucratic work style," it added.