Guess who is happiest with US consulate closure in China!
The US consulate in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu was finally closed on Monday under orders from Beijing.
While the Chinese citizens marked the event as festive, the owner of an ice jelly shop outside the US consulate was the happiest person. For, the mad rush of people to take selfies and videos outside the consulate resulted in big business gain.
The sales doubled at an ice jelly stall opposite the consulate, according to one of its employees. The outlet was not prepared and tried hard to manage the customers as they thronged after the pose.
Surprisingly, Chinese were in a festive mood to see Americans’ departure from the consulate. People posed for selfies and photos outside of the US consulate to “celebrate” its closure amid rising tensions between the two superpowers.
To avoid any untoward incident as people were in a mood to provoke the Americans, the police in Chengdu set up metal barriers along the street and sidewalk in front of the U.S. consulate. The preventive measures came after a man was caught setting off fireworks outside the building.
The craze was so high that a citizen delayed going to work to take a detour to the consulate. “To witness the closure is more important,” she told a local news channel, adding it only happens once in decades.
The consulate, which opened in 1985, has almost 200 staff, including about 150 locally hired employees, according to its website.
The move was a tit-for-tat following last week’s forced closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston by the American authorities. China’s foreign ministry confirmed on social media platform that the consulate had closed and Chinese officials have taken over the compound.
