[18]: 74  On May 30, the municipal Party committee and city government convened a vegetable work conference and decided to "revitalize buying and selling" and "allow food from other parts of the country to come into Beijing".

[19]: 226 [20] As a result, after farmers from near Xinfadi Village handed over the required quantity of vegetables to the government, they began to set up roadside stands to sell the remainder.

Local officials repeatedly tried to drive them out, without success, so a member of the Fengtai District Bureau of Industry and Commerce recommended that a wholesale market be established in the village, welcoming the farmers instead of trying to remove them.

Xinfadi Village Vegetable Company manager Zhang Yuxi (Chinese: 张玉玺; pinyin: Zhāng Yùxǐ) decided to build a market.

[21]: 152  In the early days of the market, Zhang, who lacked experience setting up a marketplace, personally sold vegetables in Jining, Zhangjiakou, Luohe, and other places.

The market's scope also expanded to include eight categories: vegetables, fruits, grains, oil, meat, seafood, eggs, and condiments.

[28][29][13] Beijing CCP Party Secretary Cai Qi, city leaders Zhang Yankun, Du Feijin, Chen Yong, Wei Xiaodong, Cui Shuqiang, Wang Ning, Lu Yan, Yang Jinbai, Qi Yanjun, and secretary general of the municipal government Jin Wei participated in this decision.

[citation needed] Cai said on 13 June that "We must ponder our pains, draw lessons from it, and always tighten the string of epidemic prevention and control."

[citation needed] During the weekend of 13 June, soldiers were seen in full uniform trooping in lock step to control the marketplace.

[13] Officials announced that they would arrange temporary stands to sell fruits and vegetables, so that produce would still be available in Beijing while the market was closed.

[32] On 17 June, government cancelled 1,000 airplane flights, although the Civil Aviation Administration of China had yet to declare public notice.

[32] On 19 June an official said that "the majority of samples collected from the aquatic and soybean product areas at the market have tested positive for COVID19".

As of 20 June, the authorities had sealed off 40 communities in Beijing, and told residents "not to leave their homes to avoid cross infection".