Analysis: From 'Chinese Dream' to 'Chinese Poverty': 10 Shocking Phenomena

Xi Jinping proposed the Chinese Dream in 2012 and defined it as the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, specifically manifested in the prosperity of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation, and the happiness of the people. However, under his governance, China today is plagued by issues, the economy is rapidly declining, and people are living in hardship. The former Chinese Dream has now turned into China is poor. Recently, the New York Times reported that a 2014 survey on the wealth perception of the Chinese people showed that 77 percent of Chinese at that time believed they were richer than five years ago. Today, 10 years later, this proportion has dropped to only 39 percent. This indicates a rapid shrinking of Chinese people's wealth, with 61 percent of the population heading towards poverty. Song Guo Cheng, a senior researcher at the Center for International Relations Research at National Chengchi University in Taiwan and an expert on Chinese issues and international strategy, pointed out that the Chinese people now face 10 difficulties. Difficulty eating, difficulty dressing, difficulty attending school, difficulty finding jobs, difficulty getting married, difficulty having children, difficulty with housing, difficulty getting medical care, difficulty with elderly care, and difficulty with funeral arrangements. These 10 difficulties encompass almost every stage of life, cradle to grave, where everything is difficult. Song Guo Cheng remarked that China is experiencing a major historical shift from the Chinese Dream to Chinese poverty. He used eight words to describe China's current economy, deep and incurable, and summarized the 10 most worrying phenomena on the mainland. One, extreme gap between rich and poor. According to statistics from the Chinese Communist Party government, 960 million people in China have an average monthly income of less than 2,000 renminbi, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the population. At the same time, one percent of the Chinese population controls 90 percent of the nation's wealth, while the remaining 99 percent own only 10 percent, an extreme disparity between rich and poor. According to World Bank data, there are currently about 200 million people living in poverty in China, and the wealth gap between the richest and poorest families is 359 times. Two, emergence of the social volcano. According to the Wall Street Journal, a joint survey by Chinese and foreign scholars titled Social Volcano shows that in the past, Chinese people believed poverty was due to personal shortcomings, such as lack of ability or effort. Now, they attribute it to unequal opportunities and unfair economic systems. Song Guo Cheng calls this a social volcano, marked by implosive social resentment, which manifests as dissatisfaction with Xi Jinping's system and despair over personal survival. Three, social suicide. Recently, a female employee of CICC committed suicide by jumping off a building because she couldn't pay her mortgage following the collapse of the real estate market. In another case, a woman who graduated from a prestigious Beijing university died in a rented apartment in Xi'an after repeatedly failing civil service interviews despite topping the exams. This highlights how employment opportunities often rely on connections, bribes, or favoritism. Many young people facing long-term unemployment due to a lack of connections are increasingly choosing social suicide as a form of protest. Four, the tragedy of the silver-haired generation. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that China currently has 290 million people age 60 and above, and by 2035, this number will exceed 400 million, reaching 500 million by 2050. As China's economy continues to decline, elderly care is becoming one of the nation's most serious social issues. Song Guoqing argues that China's welfare system is deformed and unfair. He calls it a wealth-enjoying system where the rich enjoy high welfare benefits while the poor are left with scraps. In western countries, welfare systems typically favor the poor, but in China, CCP cadres and the wealthy enjoy perks like housing, medical care, cars, bonuses, bodyguards, and nannies, while the poor, especially the rural elderly, are left with minimal care and support, leading to a bleak old age. Five, collapse of the catering industry. Data from the Beijing Statistics Bureau shows that in the first half of this year, the total profit for catering companies in Beijing with annual revenues exceeding 10 million yuan was 180 million yuan, a sharp decrease of 88.8 percent compared to last year, with profit margins as low as 0.37 percent. This indicates that the entire catering industry is facing a crisis of dwindling profits. As of December 21, 2023, more than 1.265 million catering businesses in China had their licenses revoked, more than twice the number in 2022, setting a record for revoked licenses since 2020. In the first half of 2024 alone, 1.056 million catering-related businesses were deregistered or had their licenses revoked. In the first quarter of 2024, nearly 460,000 catering businesses closed, a 232 percent increase compared to 140,000 in the same period last year. Many newly opened restaurants shut down within one or two months, with some even closing just three days after opening. In the midst of the depression, a special industry of catering corpse collectors emerged in China, specializing in collecting kitchen utensils, tableware, etc., leftover from closed catering businesses, and then reselling them secondhand. A Guangzhou operator said that since March this year, Guangzhou's catering industry has been caught in a wave of closures, and it is estimated that 40 to 50 sets of catering equipment can be recycled every month, 70 percent of which come from hotpot restaurants, followed by milk tea shops. 6. Involutionary vicious competition. Due to factors such as overcapacity, insufficient domestic demand, and inventory backlogs, most Chinese companies have resorted to low-price competition and aggressive price wars. Taking the steel industry as an example, statistics from July 2024 show that the profits of key steel enterprises nationwide decreased by 88 percent year-on-year and 90 percent month-on-month, leaving them almost unprofitable. Only 1 percent of enterprises are still making small profits. Another example is the solar energy industry. The prices of the four major products, silicon materials, silicon wafers, battery cells, and components, have fallen by 40 percent, 48 percent, 36 percent, and 15 percent respectively since the beginning of 2024, setting a historical low. Some companies have even fallen below the cost line and are operating at a loss. 7. Leading enterprises are shaky. Evergrande New Energy Vehicle, one of China's leading automobile companies, lost 20.257 billion renminbi in the first half of 2024, an increase of 194.73 percent compared to the same period last year. Only 40 cars were sold during this period. In addition, China's real estate industry is in a bottomless decline. The top 10 real estate companies are all in debt or bankrupt. Even Vanki, one of the largest real estate developers in China and the world, is facing a crisis of insolvency. 8. Collapse of the middle class. The piano industry, which symbolizes the socioeconomic status of the middle class, has also seen a cliff-like decline in sales. In the past year, 7,000 piano stores in China have closed down. The two leading piano brands, Helen Piano and Zhuhai Piano, both reported losses in the first half of this year. In Luoshetown, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, known as the hometown of pianos in China, many piano manufacturers have shut down. This reflects the collapse of the Chinese middle class. 9. The emergence of unfinished children. Since Xi Jinping vigorously promoted new quality productivity and concentrated national resources on high-tech industries, the highly educated generation that missed the previous economic boom has been severely neglected by society. These unfinished children, university graduates who cannot find jobs, are forced to accept low-paying jobs or face long-term unemployment. According to statistics, the number of college graduates in China this year has reached a record 11.79 million while the unemployment rate for urban youth aged 16 to 24 rose to 17.1% in July, the highest level since the beginning of the year. This figure does not include students or the millions of unemployed youth in rural areas. 10. High debt and exhausted finances. As of 2022, the debt of China's central and local governments stood at 114 trillion yuan. The debt of state-owned non-financial enterprises was 220 trillion yuan. And the debt of the financial system was 56 trillion yuan, totaling 390 trillion yuan. This figure is three times China's GDP. In other words, China's GDP growth can no longer keep up with the government's fiscal deficit. All of the above phenomena are shocking. Yet despite the economic downturn and widespread poverty, the CCP continues to spend heavily on various projects to enhance national prestige, such as foreign aid, the China Starlink project, Grand Canal construction, and the Peace Ark operation. While the Chinese people may survive on meager means, China's international status must not be diminished. Song Guocheng bluntly stated that Xi Jinping's Chinese dream is not about improving the lives of the Chinese people, but rather about fulfilling his personal empire dream. He jokingly remarked, The people are suffering, but the CCP is scattering flowers.