Yongkang Road is crowded with bar goers one night in July before the municipal authorities launched a renovation campaign there. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

Different voices

Some residents, especially those who used to live on the ground floor, emphasized that not all locals are opposed to the cluster of bars opening in the neighborhood.

"We understand that foreigners like drinking out in the open air and I think it's fine to place tables and chairs on the sidewalk unless they obstruct the traffic," said a resident who only gave her surname as Xu, adding that the authorities should have taken measures earlier rather than adopting such a sweeping approach now.

Xia Jun, 68, who rents his room to a bar manager, said the government should seek remedies to the residents' problems rather than closing everything down, as it had taken a long time to build the street into a popular entertainment area.

"The government spent more than 1 million yuan on renovation of the sidewalks and the decoration of the storefronts," he said.

"This showed that they were happy for us to rent rooms to foreigners, but now they say the bars don't have business licenses."

Xu Chunmei, another resident, said many of houses on the street lacked kitchens or bathrooms and the best approach would be to relocate all homeowners, allowing the area's complete commercialization.

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