High food prices inside resort spur debate

Shanghai Disneyland holds a parade for visitors on Wednesday during a trial run before the amusement park opens to the general public on June 16.[Photo/Xinhua]

After Shanghai Disneyland Resort began its trial opening on May 7, some of the visitors complained online about the high food prices inside the theme park. China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang summarizes the debate:

Are the high prices for food inside the Shanghai Disneyland Resort fair? Answers vary. Beijing News commented that as long as the theme park neither cheats visitors nor forces people to consume the food, people can choose whether or not to buy.

Beijing Youth Daily holds a different view and said the resort will have to adjust its food prices in order to welcome more low- and middle-income visitors.

The focus of the debate is fundamentally about the market's role in deciding the price. And whenever a debate boils down to the market's role, public opinion is always divided into two groups: Those advocating the market's decisive role and those saying the market will exclude those at the lowest levels of society.

Market-oriented reforms over the past 38 years have created an economic miracle for China, but they have also left many vulnerable groups behind.

The solution is rooting out corruption and making the market fairer, while providing ample social welfare to the vulnerable.

However, how to implement that solution will be a major challenge.