CHONGQING, China—On the day after Christmas, the MixC luxury shopping mall in this city’s Jiulongpo district was packed with colorful trees and other holiday decorations but not many people.

With dozens of new shopping centers being added in Chongqing, the MixC’s five-story Parkson department store was recently boarded up. Along the mall’s grounds was a football field’s length of empty shop space covered in red posters that read, “Coming soon.”

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