Three years of rent reductions exceeding ten million yuan, "lightening the load" to ignite new hope for merchants—A trade city enterprise chamber of commerce in Guizhou uses the new era "Fengqiao Experience" to resolve rent disputes.

Opening Remarks

Private economy is an important component of the socialist market economy. Its high-quality development not only requires solid legal protections to lay a strong foundation but also depends on efficient dispute resolution mechanisms to safeguard progress. As a vivid embodiment of practicing the “Fengqiao Experience” in the new era, business association mediation is becoming an important force to ensure the steady and far-reaching growth of the private economy.

To thoroughly implement the Law on Promoting the Private Economy and carry out the special campaign of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce to “Strengthen Grassroots, Promote Standards, Resolve Disputes,” a dedicated column titled “Typical Cases of Business Association Mediation” is launched. Focusing on typical business association mediation cases in 2025, through in-depth interviews and panoramic reports, it showcases the significant achievements of business association mediation in alleviating enterprise litigation burdens, maintaining market order, and optimizing the business environment. This provides valuable reference for local efforts to deepen business association mediation work, paving a broader path for the rule of law to escort the high-quality development of the private economy.

“Unbelievable, the business association solved our problem so quickly!” said Mr. Wang, a building materials merchant, happily. “I used to think it was just talk, after all, it took so long, but this time they really followed through. Now, the rent burden has eased a lot, and we finally have some confidence to figure out how to grow the business.”

A rent reduction plan at a certain commercial trade city in Guiyang finally came into effect as scheduled. The plan benefits over a hundred tenants on the third and fourth floors, effectively easing their operational pressures, stabilizing the overall operation of the trade city, and igniting new hope for the previously struggling business association.

Quick response, precise assessment

The story begins over a year ago. At that time, more than a hundred tenants on the third and fourth floors of a commercial trade city in Guiyang were complaining: “The foot traffic is nowhere near what it used to be, but the rent remains the same. We really don’t know what to do.” In August 2024, these tenants collectively sought help from the trade city’s business association.

It is understood that most merchants in this trade city mainly operate home furnishings and building materials. Influenced by market conditions in recent years, their once “golden location” has become much quieter. Merchants reported that the rent reduction plan previously promised by the management had only remained at the “verbal” stage and had not been implemented, with rent still being collected according to the original lease agreements.

After receiving the request for help, the business association immediately established a special working group to carefully identify the real “core issue” behind the problem.

Mediation work is not just about a simple “sit down and talk.” Because it involves the common demands of over a hundred merchants and involves complex and diverse conflicts, it is one of the unavoidable “big tests.” Through initial communication, the association found that the core conflict of this dispute was that the management side was unbalanced between “fulfilling social responsibilities” and “maintaining short-term profits.”

On one hand, the tenants are small private enterprises under private ownership, with operating pressures approaching survival limits. If their reasonable demands are not responded to promptly, it could trigger a mass withdrawal, directly affecting the livelihoods of over a hundred families and impacting the overall commercial ecology and stability of the trade city. On the other hand, although the management side recognizes the necessity of rent reductions in principle, they have practical concerns regarding cost accounting and risk control, leading to delays in policy implementation.

Turning Disputes into Opportunities, Seeking Win-Win Solutions

“The contradictions between both sides are all too obvious. To resolve the demands of over a hundred merchants, the business association decided to apply the ‘Fengqiao Experience’ of the new era, by establishing a rational communication platform through the association, guiding both sides to build consensus on risk-sharing and benefit-sharing, and achieving mutual benefits.” said a mediation officer from the association.

The association conducted two-way research, organized three tenant representative forums, two special meetings with management, and one evidence collection hearing, thoroughly sorting out the details of demands and obstacles to implementation.

At the negotiation meeting, the association publicly shared the operational data of over a hundred tenants (such as vacancy rates, sales declines, etc.) along with the management’s cost calculations, allowing both sides to directly understand each other’s difficulties and easing the confrontation caused by “information barriers.”

With transparent data on the table, tenant representatives saw the operational pressures faced by the management, while the management also gained their first real understanding that the tenants’ “formulaic demands” actually carried the genuine hardships of their survival.

In response to the management’s cost concerns, the association provided long-term operational data of the trade city, explaining the core logic that “short-term rent reductions can stabilize the tenant base and prevent large-scale withdrawals that would damage the market ecology,” ultimately pushing the management to hold a meeting and formally approve the rent reduction plan, marking a key breakthrough from “deadlock” to “win-win.”

Through multiple rounds of communication and negotiation, the association combined market data with actual business conditions to deeply explain the business logic of “short-term concessions for long-term stability” and the concept of shared development.

Finally, the management officially decided to implement the rent reduction plan: each tenant’s annual rent will be reduced by about 130k yuan, with a total rent reduction exceeding 12 million yuan over the three-year lease period.

This was like a timely rain for merchants in crisis.

“We see new hope, like taking a breath after a long period of pressure. Support at this moment is extremely important for us,” said the merchants excitedly.

To prevent similar issues from recurring, the mediation officer introduced that the association has established a regular consultation system, adopting a “regular meetings + instant communication” model, setting negotiation agendas around core demands, forming a closed-loop process of “issue proposal – opinion exchange – solution discussion – consensus reaching,” ensuring efficient operation of the mechanism and avoiding formalism.

Stabilizing Business Operations, Promoting Healthy Market Development

With the implementation of the rent reduction policy, the trade city’s popularity gradually rebounded. Some tenants who had planned to leave due to high rent chose to stay. The association mediation officer explained that this mediation not only made merchants feel the government’s support for small private enterprises but also effectively stabilized their “withdrawal anxiety.” Within three months, the vacancy rate in the trade city decreased by 12%, and the renewal rate among merchants increased to over 90%.

“Everyone can see the management’s attitude, so naturally confidence has grown because they are truly standing with us,” said a merchant leader. Now, merchants are focusing more on product optimization and customer expansion, and the overall atmosphere of the trade city is gradually warming up, forming a positive cycle of “merchant stability and healthy market development.”

In this mediation process, the business association played the roles of “bridge, coordination hub, and concept guide.” The mediation officer reflected, “The healthy development of the private economy requires a supportive ecosystem of ‘multi-party collaboration and balancing interests and benefits.’ The resolution of this dispute was not about unilateral compromise or forced intervention, but about understanding the actual situation through precise research, building consensus through objective communication, and promoting the implementation of solutions through collaborative mechanisms, ultimately achieving a win-win situation of ‘helping merchants, corporate responsibility, and market stability.’”

“I truly feel that ‘government-enterprise collaboration is key.’ With guidance and support from government departments, the authority and effectiveness of mediation can be enhanced, while the neutrality of the business association can break down communication barriers and inject stronger confidence and momentum into the development of the private economy,” said a relevant person in charge of the business association’s mediation committee.