In stamping out covid, China has stomped on confidence

Foreign economists are forever urging China to increase its consumer spending. On June 18th each year, the country tends to oblige. That is the date of the “618” shopping festival, promoted by jd.com, which was founded on the same day in 1998. The company started life in a modest, four-square-metre shop in Beijing, selling vcds and dvds. But during the sars epidemic of 2003-04, when the capital’s shopping districts fell quiet, it moved online. It was hugely successful, becoming one of China’s biggest e-commerce firms—a triumph of commerce over a coronavirus.