From Beijing Review:
On May 23, gas attendant Xiao Yang was amazed by the scene he had not seen in the more than two years he has worked at a gas station in Beijing’s Chaoyang District. At about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, hundreds of vehicles lined up to top up their petrol tanks. He was unaware then, but the same thing was taking place in all gas stations throughout Beijing. The immediate trigger for this frenzied buying was a news broadcast that gasoline prices were due to rise the next day.
“The high oil price in the international market is the major reason for the increase in domestic oil prices. China’s oil price should not remain at a low level against the backdrop of high international oil prices. Maybe in the future, the price of oil products in China will rise again,” said Xia Yishan, Research Fellow with the China Institute of International Studies.
