The Return of Government-Run Cooperatives & Cafeterias, Is China Preparing for War and Famine?

The supply and marketing cooperatives, which we will abbreviate as SMC, may be unfamiliar to young people today, but is very well known for Chinese people over the age of 40. Growing up in China’s planned economy, the SMCs were the only channel for purchasing production and living materials in the rural areas, and everything had to be bought with a ticket. Founded in the 1950s and 1960s, SMCs were the darlings of the planned economy. They relied on “centralized purchasing and marketing“ to buy and sell for hundreds of millions of people in China, creating a nationwide distribution network between urban and rural areas. Centralized purchasing refers to the planned purchase of food and materials by the government; and centralized marketing refers to the rationing policy through tickets. At the same time, the govt-run cafeteria is also making a high-profile comeback. The so-called “govt-run cafeteria/canteen“ refers to the low-cost small and medium-sized cafeterias established