Surviving between market and state: street vending in China’s socialist market economy – the case of Xi’an

Street vending, as a vital component of China’s urban economy, is generally framed as a marginal and informal activity subject to uniform state control. This paper challenges that view through a comparative case study of Xi’an – Liyuan (an urban district) and Ganjia (an urban village) – to examine how vendors navigate spatial constraints, supply chains and regulatory regimes shaped by the interplay between market forces and differentiated state control. The findings reconceptualise street vending as an integral part of China’s evolving urban economy, revealing that vendors are not passive survivors but active economic agents who engage in structured supply chains, adopt digital technologies and leverage kinship networks. The paper further uncovers how an urban-village dual structure of state control produces uneven conditions for vending livelihoods and shapes different possibilities for economic agency.