SHANGHAI/BEIJING - Wang Chunxiang pushes a cart around busy areas of Shanghai, playing cat and mouse with the authorities as she tries to sell pastries. The jobs she could get do not pay enough for her to make ends meet.

"Salaries are too low," said the 43-year-old, after serving a customer steamed sweet rice cakes from a wok.

"At my age, without much knowledge, I could only earn 5,000 to 6,000 yuan ($954 to $1145) per month as a cleaning lady. Shanghai rent is so expensive. Even low quality homes are 2,000 to 3,000 yuan," said Wang, who recently resumed hawking after a six-year break.

She can earn about 10,000 yuan in a good month selling pastries for 15 yuan a box.

As life in China returns to normal after the pandemic, hawkers are hitting the streets. They look to at least supplement their income amid an uneven economic recovery in which jobs and wage growth has been sluggish.

For decades, street stalls and hawkers - common elsewhere in Asia - have been banned or tightly regulated in many Chinese cities, with authorities seeing them as unsightly.

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