This year on Nan Luo Gu Xiang we’ve seen even more people up and down the hu tong, but not a huge difference in sales. Having spoken to a lot of business owners and fellow members of the chamber of commerce everyone agrees more people looking and not so many spending money. The problem is that the rents are going up and up to crazy levels. Today I heard that the price of the place opposite my shop is up for rent for 330,000rmb a year and its only about 30 metres squared. Its hard to tell how many businesses on the street are really making any profit but I’d say less than half, and at this rate is going to get worse. Let’s hope that this can be controlled one day or the street might lose its special feel soon.