Beijing's Fortune Town Middle Street is a leafy road filled with an eclectic mix of restaurants, cafes and an international grocery store.
It was here that Jack Wang decided to build his first business, Rollbox, a cafe selling Banh Mi, or Vietnamese sandwiches.
"I got the idea while studying in Sydney. I loved eating Banh Mi, but Beijing didn't have anything like that," the former UNSW student said.
"So my partner and I gave up everything. We resigned from our secure jobs to train and save for this business."
Eight months after opening and steady sales, Rollbox no longer exists.
Jack Wang's Vietnamese sandwich shop no longer exists. Source: SBS News
It was demolished alongside a half a dozen or so businesses on Fortune Town Middle Street for not having the correct commercial licenses.
The demolition is part of a government clean-up - the most intensive since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Business owners receive about a month's warning before bulldozers arrive via signs or notices posted on the street. There is no consultation or compensation.
Officials hold meetings with business owners to inform them of the reconstruction, but there's no discussion of alternative options.
"I understood very clearly that there was nothing I could do, it was an order from high above," said Mr Wang.
In previous months demolition largely took place in lesser known areas, but work has begun in high-profile areas including the shopping district Sanlitun, an area popular with foreigners and wealthy young Chinese.
This week a busy strip of restaurants, DVD stores and tattoo parlours was bulldozed. These small businesses had been allowed to thrive for over a decade, but again licensing was the reason given.
Editor of local magazine That's Beijing says the move is also financial.
"If you follow the money trail you'll find that small businesses and shops make about 30% of GDP of the city, but they’re only contributing 7.5% of the tax. So it's not particularly beneficial to have small businesses operating here,” said Oscar Holland.
Shops aren't always destroyed. Entrances are simply bricked up, keeping customers away.
A strip of malls in Beijing's Sanlitun shopping area are bulldozed Source: SBS News
In recent weeks a strip of cafes across the street from the northern part of the Forbidden City came under the hammer.
In one day glass cafe fronts, shop entrances and signs were covered with plain grey bricks. Business owners who put up a fight were quickly pacified by a team of police supervising the construction work.
“It’s almost like making life so difficult for people that they have to move," Mr Holland said.
"These aren't technically evictions. These are just ensuring businesses can’t operate in the same way. They’re not kicking them out, they’re just disincentivising them from staying."
The bricking up has been met with mixed, but mostly positive response online, with bloggers saying Beijing’s streets will be ‘cleaner’ and more in keeping with the image of an international city.
Shopfronts are bricked up in Beijing's effort to clean-up the city Source: SBS News
Others feel the work is chipping away at the capital's charm.
Analyst Hong Tao said the government has a much bigger goal in mind, capping the city’s bulging population at 23 million.
“The masses of people living in Beijing has become a heavy burden for the city. Population reduction is an important goal,” said Mr Hong.
The plan seems to be working. Many of Jack Wang's former neighbours are leaving Beijing for good.
"They have personally told me they are going to stop living in Beijing. They're moving back to their home town," he said.
But he will stay. Before he was forced to close down, business was booming and he's determined to try again.
"We’re looking for a new location, and this time, we’ll make it even better," said Mr Wang.
Jack Wang's shop 'Rollbox' was bulldozed in Beijing's latest clean-up Source: Rollbox
