Xi Jinping’s economic revolution aims to spread growth

cup of milk tea from Chayan Yuese in the central Chinese city of Changsha, you may have to queue for an hour in the sweltering heat. The local company, known in English as “Sexy Tea”, has become a national sensation. Patrons insist that its method of steeping tea leaves and its ratio of water to milk produce a mellow brew that helps wash down fiery, pepper-laden local dishes. It is part of what has made Changsha a hotspot, or a place where young people come to shoot videos for social media. Street vendors serving up spicy crayfish have become internet celebrities. Crowds throng the city’s central shopping districts and eateries into the early hours of the morning, despite worries about covid-19. The local television station has become something akin to the Netflix of China. Chinese social media teems with photographs of young women, dressed in swanky outfits, posing in front of the city’s 32-metre-high granite bust of Mao Zedong, the country’s revolutionary leader who came from a nearby town.