Screenshots circulating online showed that Yan had previously posted in Moments saying his company was fined 11.456 million yuan by Saige Mall over the issue of selling «coupon splitting», and that all operating funds in his store had been frozen, with no settlement for four years. As a result, payments could not be settled for months and goods could not be stocked. Yan said that coupon splitting was only done by a small number of people, that mall management had always tacitly approved it, and that the mall’s employees all knew about it. His family said that on June 30, Yan received a notice from the mall saying that the venue contract had expired and would not be renewed, and requiring him to vacate the stores on the basement level and the fifth floor. Reports also said that on-site media found the fifth-floor store had been dismantled, the original basement store had been replaced by another sports brand, and neighboring merchants said the original store vacated the premises on the evening of June 30.
Many people online expressed dissatisfaction with Xi’an Saige’s earlier fine of tens of millions of yuan, mainly believing that this fine drove Yan Peng to jump to his death.
However, in Saige Mall’s announcement, while paying lip service to mourning, it placed the blame on Yan Peng. Its main arguments were severalfold: 1. Saige did not fine the merchant for no reason; rather, the merchant first violated the event rules and the lease contract. 2. The liquidated damages were calculated according to the contract and the event agreement; the amount of store-anniversary coupons redeemed was 6.9363 million yuan, while Saige determined the suspected coupon-splitting amount to be 6.0672 million yuan. 3. The other party had already confirmed this and «accepted the penalty», and Xi’an Saige had also reduced the amount of liquidated damages at its discretion.
But from October 2020 to April 2021, Lihe Company’s total sales were 25.97 million yuan. This does not even include the coupon portion. On this basis, a fine of tens of millions was extremely high, and Xi’an Saige further froze Lihe Company’s payments for four years, not allowing a single cent to move. As a business capital, Lihe Company suffered a severe blow from the multimillion-yuan repayment demand, making its cash flow difficult.
On the surface, this is a question of whether coupon splitting was reasonable and whether there was a breach of contract. But in capitalist society, exchange and contract are only equal relationships on the surface; behind them lies the logic of private property and power determined by capital. Who制定s the rules for the coupons? Who holds the right to interpret what counts as a violation? Saige Mall said Yan Peng accepted the penalty at the time, but could he really have refused? In capitalist society, whoever has capital can oppress others. Yan Peng himself was also a capitalist exploiting others, with a fairly large business scale, registered capital of tens of millions, and annual revenue in the hundreds of millions. But Xi’an Saige, as a large mall with capital, controlled the storefronts and customer flow; in the contract between Xi’an Saige and merchants, even sales proceeds had to go into the party’s unified cash collection system. In reality, it was in a position of domination over merchants. This is also why Xi’an Saige was able to withhold Yan Peng’s funds. This dealt a massive blow to the circulation of business capital.
This shows that in capitalist society, not only does the bourgeoisie oppress and exploit the people, but monopoly capital and the big bourgeoisie can also arbitrarily swallow up the smaller bourgeoisie. This was not even the first time Xi’an Saige Mall had done this. Previously, Saige had already engaged in smashing, looting, and forced demolition against merchants:
Western Net News: Since yesterday (June 26), an article titled «Xi’an Saige’s Smash-and-Grab Scandal» has been circulating on WeChat and Weibo. The article claims that «Xi’an Saige Shopping Center has been smashing and looting merchants for 6 consecutive days; Shangshuibu Sunshine Sichuan Cuisine was smashed and looted overnight, and the Xiaozhai Police Station refused to file a case and did nothing at all».
It is clear from this that there is no such thing as equality in capitalist society. The petty and middle bourgeoisie think that by relying on the capital in their hands to exploit the surplus value of laborers, they can rest easy. But there is always a higher one, and «above capital there is more capital»; the big bourgeoisie is likewise extremely brutal and will stop at nothing. The mutual fratricide and annexation among the bourgeoisie will only further intensify the exploitation of the working masses,
Police respond to rumor that «a shopping center in Xi’an smashed, robbed, and looted merchants» and did not file a case
https://politics.people.com.cn/n/2015/0627/c70731-27217610.html