Shanghai is crying! A land of despair! 80% of Chinese people are downgrading their consumption

China's economy continues to decline, the market is depressed, and doing business is difficult. Many shopping malls and supermarkets can no longer operate. Even the consumption data in Shanghai, a first-tier city, has fallen off a cliff. Ordinary people have less and less confidence in the future, and consumption continues to downgrade. As the Chinese New Year in 2025 approaches, many netizens have posted videos saying they have no money to celebrate the New Year. Let's talk about related topics today. Blogger Ziyu Emotion posted that 2025 may usher in the coldest and bleakest New Year in history for two reasons. One reason is the difficulty of celebrating the New Year due to lack of money. After working hard for a year, many people not only failed to make money but may also be heavily in debt. However, they still need to buy New Year's goods and give red envelopes to their juniors during the New Year. For people with tight finances, these basic expenses have become a heavy burden, and their enthusiasm for celebrating the New Year has greatly diminished. Second, the employment situation is severe. Many people who work away from home would have returned to their hometowns if they couldn't find a job. Even migrant workers who are still wandering outside may hesitate to go home for the New Year, deterred by the high prices of air tickets and high-speed rail tickets. This year, fewer people will go home for the New Year than in previous years because they have no money. It costs at least 6,000 yuan for me to go back, and I would have to overdraw my wages for February and March. Is this a good thing? I really don't want my debt to snowball. Why not use savings? Are you kidding? Who has savings? Last year, I was completely penniless. The year before that, I opened a catering sideline business and lost 60,000 yuan. Without money, how could I still have the face to go home? How much money did you give your parents for the New Year this year? Tell me so I can envy you. I'm not afraid of being laughed at when I say it, but we may not have a penny this year. For the sake of fairness, neither of our parents received money this year. My husband and I are both ordinary workers. Our monthly salary is only about 7,000 yuan. The monthly mortgage and car loan payments add up to about 5,000 yuan, so we are under great pressure. As soon as our monthly salary arrives, we pay off the mortgage and car loan first, and the rest is used for daily expenses. We can't save money for the children, so we didn't save a penny this year, let alone give money to our parents during the Chinese New Year. The thing we fear most after getting married is the Chinese New Year. This year, I bought two sets of clothes for my daughter for the Chinese New Year. My husband and I both wore old clothes. My husband and I are not very particular about this. We wear the same clothes for several years. I realized how hard it is to make money after I got married, and after becoming a parent, I could better understand how difficult it is to be a parent. Compared to those who earn money to support the whole family, it is difficult for us to save money even when we earn. Fortunately, my husband and I are very optimistic. We are careful with our expenses, but also very clear about the money we should spend. So, after working hard for a year, I still didn't save any money. I give 20,000 yuan every year to my parents when I go back home to show my filial piety. My parents know it is not easy for me to make money, so they don't want my money every year, but I still insist on giving it to them. They put the money into a card and said they would give it to my children in the future. In my opinion, making money to show filial piety to parents is the most important thing for children to do. I don't need to prepare the New Year's goods at home, so the expenses are reduced. I prepared 2,000 yuan for the children's New Year's money, 2,000 yuan for visiting relatives and friends, and 1,000 yuan for eating with close friends. For the New Year with a new atmosphere, I spent 600 yuan on cleaning myself up, totaling Looking at the expenses and then at my salary, I am really shocked. This is just the stage of having elderly parents and no children. It is said, whether you have money or not, you should go home for the New Year. After calculating, I found that if you don't have 10,000 or 8,000 yuan, you would feel ashamed to go home for the New Year. But what is the New Year? Who do you spend the New Year with? The New Year is about being with your family. Migrant workers have been working hard for a year, just waiting for this moment of reunion. So I think it is worth spending any amount of money. How much money have you prepared? This blogger from Shenyang said she calculated her average monthly income this year was 7,000 to 8,000 yuan. But she didn't dare to spend because she had no confidence in the future. She said she only bought three pieces of clothing this year. In the summer, she spent more than 100 yuan on a black skirt. Half a month ago, on her birthday, she bought a sweater and a pair of jeans because she had dinner with friends in Zhangjie, which cost just over 500 yuan in total. These are the three pieces of clothing I bought this year. As for skincare products, I am still using the face cream I bought last year. There's a little bit left, and I haven't used it up. It cost 400 to 500 yuan. I didn't say that I am too poor to buy skincare products, but the biggest feeling I have this year is that I am reluctant to spend money. She said she now tries to save money, cooks at home whenever possible, and rarely orders takeout. It's because this year, I feel I have the least sense of security since I started working. This year's work gives me the feeling that you could lose your job even while you're working. A recent survey shows that 80% of Chinese consumers believe they are trapped in consumption downgrade. The general consumption concept among people is don't buy if it's not necessary. If it is a must-have product, they choose to buy low-priced items. You are talking about consumption downgrade. Wrong. It's not a downgrade at all, but no consumption at all. No one is outspending. There are still 10 days before the Chinese New Year, yet there are no people on the streets. Only a few customers come into the store daily. Ordinary people really don't have money in their hands. They truly don't consume. If they can avoid buying, they don't buy. If they can buy less, they buy less. It's really too difficult. How serious is consumption downgrade? This is our China Resources Vanguard in Nanchang. It was crowded with people back then. Now, as the Chinese New Year approaches, let's look at the popularity here. In previous years, this place was full of cars. Now, there are only a few cars. It is completely empty. It's 7.30 in the evening. Look at the crowd. How can this be called consumption downgrade? There is simply no consumption. Did you make money this year? Tell me. Many shopping malls in mainland China are deserted. And the same is true for shopping malls in Shanghai. There is no festive atmosphere at all. It is December 25, 2024. I am in Greenland Colorful City, Putuo District, Shanghai at 1.30 in the afternoon. Can you imagine? I seem to be the only one in the entire mall. Hello, everyone. Today, I came to Baolong Plaza, the former top shopping mall on Kowloon Road, Pudong, Shanghai. It used to be said that one shop could support three generations, but now it's the other way around. The shop you bought is now really one shop that will make three generations poor. They are all closed. It is Saturday, the weekend, and it's past 12 o'clock. No one is open. Oh, there is an old Beijing fried noodle shop in front that is still open. Look, they are all closed. It is terrible. If you bought this store at a high price, you are probably crying in the toilet now. It used to be a top shopping mall. When Baolong Square Carrefour was still open, it was really crowded. Now, it is terrible. This is the center of Baolong Square. The former Carrefour is in front, and even the convenience stores are closed. Everyone says that consumption has been downgraded, but we also see that the tourism industry in the mainland seems to be booming, and no matter which tourist attraction you go to, it's crowded. However, blogger Lu Jiayi believes this is also a manifestation of consumption downgrade, indicating that people are unable to engage in large-scale consumption. China's economic situation is getting worse, and the new year is coming. Some analysts believe that the RMB may collapse next year, and the social crisis may lead to civil war. Recently, news has spread on the Internet. In Shanghai and Beijing, because people know that Trump will come and the RMB will turn into scrap paper, the number of people and the amount of foreign currency withdrawn from the bank has increased significantly since November 5. It seems that people in the wall know that the CCP is coming to an end, and only foreign currency has value. Official data from the Communist Party of China also shows that unless there is a miracle in December, this year will be the first net foreign direct investment deficit in history. These will affect foreign exchange reserves and further destabilize the economy. The public is not optimistic about the economic outlook. Judging from this month's Central Economic Work Conference, the Politburo of the Communist Party of China cannot find a way out of the predicament. Zhai Shanying, former chairman of the Investment Banking Department of China Construction Bank, also said at the elite forum that the Central Economic Work Conference has sent out an extremely bad signal. But no one has said it publicly. The Chinese economy does not have core industries that can generate major income. Reading the full report really means that one can only survive next year by borrowing national currency, local debt, credit swaps, etc. In fact, borrowing money. If a country explicitly tells the world that it can only survive by borrowing money, then it has no money. When it comes to any source of income, what is its monetary value? Zhai Shanying continued to say that the purpose of printing money next year should be to repay debts. And the ultimate point of debt is basically the bank. That is, money is printed by the central bank, circulated everywhere, and finally returned to the banks to settle. The people still do not have money, so printing money on a large scale will be terrible and lead to serious deflation. Zhai Shanying believes that the RMB will depreciate significantly next year. Even in first-tier cities in China, there are signs that people are struggling to make a living. A 30-year-old female master's student in Shanghai posted a video saying that she had worked for nearly six years and was fired on New Year's Eve. Now, I am married and have no children. It is not easy to find another job. A netizen revealed, Putuo District, Baoshan District, Shanghai borrowed money to pay police salaries. You heard that right, it is Shanghai. The vacancy rate of commercial buildings is very high. Tenants cannot rent out their landlords' houses, and a large number of unemployed people have to return to their hometowns. Some people even took pictures of homeless and abandoned children on the streets of Guangdong, as if they were back in Shanghai in 2008, worrying that poverty, unemployment, and the last generation will become daily habits in the future. Xi Jinping cannot save the economy, so how can he ensure the stability of his regime? The CCP has a tradition of waging war with other countries to deflect conflicts, but now the military is conducting a major purge, and the people are unstable. Xi Jinping probably does not dare to use the military. Why is it so concerning that China is printing a lot of money now? The entire country can only survive by borrowing money. The New Tang Dynasty's elite forum, Zhai Shanying, former president of the Investment Banking Department of China Construction Bank, pointed out that the true value of the national currency should be closely linked to the country's economic situation. And all of this depends on the guarantee of national credit. According to his analysis of the current economic situation in China, the Chinese economy under the leadership of Xi Jinping has been heading towards the dilemma of lacking core industries in recent years. This problem was clearly reflected in the 2024 Central Economic Work Conference. Zhai Shanying believes that the core of the report is that China can only survive by borrowing money next year, which is a signal that points directly to the core problem of China's economy. Zhai Shanying further pointed out that China currently has no main business income, and economic growth mainly depends on real estate and foreign trade. But these two industries are collapsing rapidly. With the economic recession, the value of currency has become increasingly difficult to reflect. Zhai Shanying said, when a country clearly tells the world that it can only survive by borrowing money and has no source of income, then where is the value of its currency? He also mentioned that if monetary easing is implemented in 2024, the printed funds may not enter the circulation field but will be mainly used to repay debts. The logic of printing money is to repay debts. The authorities call for debt repayment, but in fact there is no debt repayment. The printed money finally goes back to the bank and the public still has no money. He said that printing money will not bring inflation but will aggravate the problem of deflation. In the end, the printed money will only fill the bank's balance sheet and will not be effectively invested in the social economy. In summary, Zhai Shanying pointed out that China's economy is facing serious challenges. The lack of core industries, over-reliance on borrowing, and the collapse of the real estate and foreign trade industries have made China's economic growth unsustainable. In this case, monetary easing policies can only bring more severe deflation, not economic recovery.