Liu Yonghao, chairman of agribusiness conglomerate New Hope Group and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), has proposed a one-off, universal consumption voucher of 500 yuan per person as a blunt instrument to revive household spending. Calculating on a population base of about 1.4 billion, Liu says upfront issuance of roughly ¥7,000 billion (¥700 billion) could generate nearly ¥2 trillion in incremental consumption and sustain roughly 14 million jobs in the tertiary (service) sector.
Liu frames the suggestion as a corrective to a familiar problem: existing voucher schemes tend to favour large e-commerce platforms and chain retailers while delivering little benefit to street vendors, neighbourhood shops, farmers' markets and flexible or gig workers. He urges a simple, ID-based distribution model — inspired by Malaysia's experience — with nationally authorised financial institutions overseeing issuance and tech-finance companies handling redemption and verification, and crucially without restrictions by industry or product category.
The proposal arrives against a backdrop in which Beijing has repeatedly deployed targeted consumption incentives — from holiday vouchers to trade-in subsidies — to support demand. The Ministry of Commerce's recent New Year stimulus pooled roughly ¥2.05 billion in local funds for vouchers and subsidies; separate trade-in programmes have reached some 31.1 million participants and reportedly generated about ¥207.03 billion in sales through February 23. Policymakers and business leaders point to these examples as evidence that vouchers can have a multiplier effect if they reach the right outlets and consumers.
There are, however, important practical and fiscal questions. A universal scheme that waives industry limits would require significant coordination between central authorities, commercial banks, payment platforms and local governments. The headline fiscal burden — the initial ¥700 billion in transfers — is substantial even before accounting for administrative costs or potential leakage. Universality sacrifices targeting efficiency and may allocate resources to households that would have spent anyway; conversely, better reach into small merchants could strengthen local demand and employment in services.
Politically, the proposal is notable more for what it signals than its immediate odds of adoption. As a CPPCC suggestion from an influential private-sector figure, it feeds into a wider debate in Beijing about how to generate sustained consumer-led growth without resorting to large-scale public investment. If implemented in any form, a universal, ID-based voucher would be a pragmatic, visible policy to shore up urban and rural consumption and to demonstrate support for small businesses, but it would also test the state’s appetite for broad fiscal measures and its capacity to safeguard data and redemption systems. International observers should watch how central and local authorities balance speed, scale and targeting in the months ahead.