Urban Hell: Life in China's Crumbling High-Rise Ghettos - Three Generations Trapped!

30 years from now, all high-rise apartment complexes will become garbage. You've spent your entire youth, drained the savings of six family members, and poured the efforts of two to three generations into buying a high-rise. And when you finally finish paying off that 30-year mortgage, you realize you've become the biggest scallion fool in the world. The elevator's been broken for three straight days. Going down is still manageable, but going up is hopeless. Walking from the 29th floor down to the ground is possible, but what if there's an elderly person who's sick? Are we supposed to carry them down on our backs? I can go down, sure, but what about climbing back up to the 29th floor? Try to think from the perspective of ordinary residents. How would they feel? Look at this elevator. One still works, for now, but the other is completely broken. The screen doesn't light up. It's useless. We've already replaced it four times, and now only one elevator is usable. When we call someone to fix it, they just come, take a look, and leave. We bought a 50-floor apartment for 1.8 million yuan, and every day feels like living in the sky. I regret it so much I want to slap myself. The pain feels like my insides are being torn apart. Too many flaws. It's full of hidden dangers. Even if you beat me to death, I won't buy another high-rise. Never again. Poor-quality high-rises in the future will inevitably turn into slums. Everything is deteriorating, and the maintenance fund for the building is practically zero, not nearly enough to cover the costs. This is what life in a high-rise really looks like, friends. It's now 8 p.m., and the whole building has lost power. We live on the 20th-somethingth floor. How are we supposed to get home? Now there's water leaking everywhere. Come fix it quickly. If there's an electrical leak, too, we're done for. It looks like a full-on plumbing job. The accident started because a water pipe burst in one of the units on the 11th floor. The water poured down the utility shaft and eventually spread to the electrical rack. We only have 70 years of land-use rights. Many people ask, what happens after 70 years? I say, you're thinking too far ahead. You're super high-rise. Forget about it lasting 70 years. Will the building itself even survive that long? Who will be responsible for maintenance? Who will pay for repairs? And if you want to sell it, sell it to whom? It's all problems. That house will just sit there forever like a burden. No one can afford to tear it down, no one wants to, and the residents can't leave. So what would you call that if not a slum? China's real estate market is in long-term stagnation, and high-rise buildings in major cities are showing more and more issues. Online, many homeowners are lamenting. Buying a high-rise apartment, deeply regretted. Some even say, these buildings will become slums. In the coming years, anyone with a bit of money will leave. Only the drifters will remain behind. In reality, some residential areas are already showing signs of this trend. You won't need to wait long, not even 20 years, to see it clearly. The original designs were unreasonable, just two or three elevators serving each floor with seven or eight units. When the elevator breaks down, no one takes responsibility. Dozens of people have to fight over one elevator, and once that breaks, it's over. Residents on lower floors might still manage to climb stairs, but those living on the 10th, 20th floors, climbing every day, no one can endure that. Living on the 20th or 30th floor will drive you mad. Now, even gathering funds to repair a low-rise building is difficult, let alone a high-rise. The building management is incompetent, and most people avoid paying maintenance fees. That's why I've made up my mind. I'm done with high-rise living. The greatest deceit and the biggest betrayal of ordinary people is this. High-rise apartments are only designed to last 50 years. After just 10 years of use, they begin to deteriorate. Cracked walls, aging pipes, broken elevators, water leakage. Maintenance costs are extremely high. Developers only care about selling units, and property management is only interested in making money. The maintenance fund runs dry within just a few years. Ironically, wealthy people would rather buy high-rise units just to store urns of ashes as houses for the dead than to actually live in them. So, who ends up living in these apartments? Those without money. The poor. The hygiene is filthy. Neighbors lack awareness. The entire residential area is filled with shady people, and public security is chaotic. If this still doesn't qualify as a slum, what does? Look around at today's high-rises. Many have already become slums. In another 50 years, we'll witness even more of them turning into true urban ghettos. Some say high-rise buildings will eventually become slums, and I believe this project is a textbook example. The greenbelts have long disappeared, garbage and rats are everywhere, and the environment is appalling. The elevators are either constantly under repair or about to break down. Back in 2012 and 2013, the price per square meter was over 7,000 yuan. Now, homeowners either sell at a loss or are completely stuck. This is Fengjing International in Guilin. Narrow corridors, damp and dark, not even a ray of natural light. The storage rooms are scarier than escape rooms, and the parking lots are completely unmanaged. Don't even dream of comfort if you live here. I think in 10 years, even renting these places will be impossible. According to residents, this building has 33 floors, but only one elevator is functioning normally. In the morning, students must leave 30 minutes early just to make it to school. Sometimes they wait the whole time and still can't squeeze into the lift. Delivery workers have to climb over 20 floors on foot, and residents often walk up the stairs just to get home. Exhausting. One person lived on the 40th floor for three years and finally sold at a loss of 300,000 yuan to escape. He advises anyone thinking of buying a high-rise to think very carefully. In the first year after moving in, everything seemed fine. But by the third year, so many problems arose that it became unbearable. People felt like they were collapsing mentally. The sense of safety was terrible, not because of theft, but because every time there was a storm, the whole building shook, and it felt like lightning could strike straight into the room. Dust was everywhere, and the noise was overwhelming. Since there were no trees to absorb the dust and block the sound, living on a high floor made it even worse. Water supply was also a huge issue. Because of the height, a secondary water pump system was needed. But during peak hours in the morning and evening, the water pressure dropped so low it was unusable. You had to avoid those times or suffer greatly. Many online voices say that high-rise apartments are an anti-human design, completely unsuitable for living. Yet some areas still build towers 40 or even 50 stories tall, packed like pigeon cages. As time goes on, problems just multiply. The comfort is gone, and it no longer feels like home. The eventual transformation of high-rise buildings into slums is almost inevitable. At first, they might look OK, but the long-term maintenance costs are astronomical. Broken elevators, damaged plumbing, faulty wiring, crumbling exterior walls, fire hazards, all sorts of risks accumulate over time, and repairs become harder and more expensive. Ten years ago, people were scrambling to buy luxury apartments on the 30th floor. Now those prices have dropped by 40%, and still no one dares to buy. In recent years, wealthy individuals around you have been quietly withdrawing from high-rise apartment complexes. They either move into suburban villas or settle into ultra-spacious luxury apartments in city centers. Behind this phenomenon lies a simmering crisis within high-rise residential buildings, from elevator malfunctions in Kunming, rooftop fires in Hebei, to explosions in skyscrapers in Shenzhen. These are not random accidents, but inevitable outcomes. Many people have emptied out six wallets and spent their entire youth to buy high-rise apartments, especially from real estate companies teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and they have become the juiciest leaks in the property market. Inconvenient transportation, total dependence on elevators, small usable living space despite high management fees, overcrowding, and poor living experience. These are just the tip of the iceberg. The most dangerous issue with high-rise apartments is the extreme risk. In just the first eight months of last year, there were 36,000 fire incidents in high-rise buildings. For instance, the telecom building in Changsha caught fire and burned from the ground floor to the top in just 10 minutes. Many floors above the 10th cannot even be reached by fire ladders. Rescue is impossible and escape is just as hopeless. Incidents of elevator free falls, windows shattered by strong winds, people being blown away. These gruesome realities expose the fragility and latent danger of high-rise living. The phrase, high-rise apartments will become slums, is an understatement. Some are turning into ghost zones. Massive complexes like Tongtianyuan in Beijing, Huaguoyuan in Guizhou, and Chengnianjiayuan in Chongqing House, tens of thousands of residents. Demolishing them would cost more than building them, requiring huge compensation and tear-down expenses. That's why no one dares to demolish them. Developers won't admit it, but these buildings may one day be too costly even to tear down. Recent years, China's economy has spiraled downward, leaving devastation across every sector. Waves of bankruptcies have swept through the country. Once glorious entrepreneurs now crumble under mountains of debt. Many have turned to social media to bear their pain, sharing haunting stories of collapse, despair, and abandonment. On Chinese platforms, video after video shows broken business owners recalling their rise and their ruin, as the collapsing economy crushed everything they built. Zong Youyan, chairwoman of a Jiangsu engineering firm, revealed in one video that she once partnered with real estate giant Vankai back in 2013, involved in nearly all its local projects. At my peak, I was making a small goal, 100 million yuan, every year. I was surrounded by friends. Every meal cost tens of thousands. I spent money like water. She recalled owning multiple properties, homes, shops, office buildings, with assets once exceeding 100 million yuan. Now she's drowning in over 30 million yuan of debt. Zong said her downfall began after 2019, when she invested tens of millions into Vankai, Evergrande, and other real estate ventures, all bearing prestigious Chinese names. The money vanished. Projects stalled. Payments frozen. Everyone is stuck. Accounts receivable became the biggest wound. A vicious cycle, she said, holding back tears. I used to be surrounded by friends, classmates, sisters. Now I eat alone. No one invites me anymore. Everyone avoids you. That's the cruel truth. The pain hit hardest when she thought of her children. All I've left them is debt. I have no capital left to give. Another boss runs from debt. And from life. On May 25th, Lu Donglin, chairman of Donglin Decoration Engineering Company, appeared in a video confession. Once a billionaire in assets, now buried under more than 20 million yuan in debt. He fled his hometown with nothing but a 130,000 yuan watch and a 500,000 yuan car. I ran, he said. I just ran. Ten years ago, Lu was a rising local star, managing a company with tens of millions in annual output. Today, he's lost it all. I sold everything and still couldn't repay my debts. For over two decades, I never imagined life could get this hard. I can't bear the pressure from the banks, from creditors, from my aging parents. I can't keep doing this. After his collapse, he couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and contemplated ending his life more than once. My wife saved me every time, he said. But my hair turned white and fell out. My body shrank from 170 kilograms to barely 140. I'm a wreck. The older generation used to say it takes ten years to climb up, but only one night to fall. Now, I truly understand what it means to live each day like a year, and a life worse than death. Those were his words, heavy with regret and exhaustion. He said his family now survives on his wife's pension of just over 2,000 yuan. Still, he refuses to give up. To all my creditors, don't worry. I'm not lying down. Just give me a little more time. I'll work, I'll earn, and I'll repay every cent. This time, I'm not running away. I swear I'm not. I just want to escape this nightmare and start over. 34-year-old travel boss. From billionaire to bankrupt in one year. On June 18th, the chairman of Baolong Group posted a video online. His face was calm, but his words cut deep. Five years ago, I was worth over 100 million yuan. In just one year, it all crumbled. The company went bankrupt, shut down, and I was left with 100 million yuan in debt. I was born in 1991. I'm 34 years old, and 2024 is the darkest year of my life. My companies, Shandong Baolong Holding Group and Shaanxi Baolong Energy Supply Chain, officially filed for bankruptcy in June. I covered all the losses of friends who trusted me, burned through my personal assets, and still ended up over 100 million in debt. He recounted his 13-year entrepreneurial journey. Starting with a travel agency, he grew it into a national chain of over 300 stores. Then came the blind expansion. Coal washing plants, coking factories, coal blending projects. The cash dried up. The empire collapsed. I used to be a respected entrepreneur. Now I've sold every mansion, every luxury car, every asset I could liquidate, and I still face hundreds of lawsuits. Female restaurant owner. I really can't stand it anymore. Since this year, many new restaurants have also closed down. On June 15th, the female restaurant owner, Eva, said, All the restaurant owners, I will withdraw first. Sorry, I really can't stand it. It's June 15th, 2025, and my store will be transferred tomorrow. She said that she used to be a nurse and switched to the restaurant industry. She didn't expect the store to go bankrupt after opening for three months. At that time, I opened this beef-awful store in Hangzhou on impulse. This is the store I opened with my hard work and several years of salary. Now everything is shattered. Many netizens who own restaurants left comments in the comment section, saying, The prohibition has had an immediate effect. Our restaurant has gone from about 20 tables a day to just a few now. I'll tell you as a 30-year restaurant owner, this year and next year are both low points for the restaurant industry. Old restaurants are struggling, not to mention the newbies who don't know anything about the restaurant business, and don't listen to the nonsense from franchise stores. Whether you are a novice, an old hand, or an investor, I really feel sorry for the energy and money you have invested. I'm not predicting whether you will fail this year. I don't know. But at the very least, this year it will be extremely difficult for you to make money in a physical restaurant. China's deposit interest rates fall below 1%. Depositors wonder, Should we still keep our money in the bank? Recently, many banks in China have lowered their deposit interest rates, particularly for one-year fixed-term deposits, which have now fallen below 1%, sparking heated discussions among depositors. This marks the seventh deposit rate cut since mid-2022. As the once principal and interest-guaranteed bank deposit returns enter the 1% era, many depositors are growing restless and starting to question, Is it still worth keeping money in the bank? This shift is also having a profound impact on bank operations. On May 20, China's six major state-owned banks, ICBC, ABC, BOC, CCB, BOCOM, and Postal Savings Bank, announced reductions in their listed deposit rates. After the adjustment, the interest rate for demand deposits at these banks dropped to 0.05%, and the one-year fixed-term deposit rate fell to 0.95%. A wave of joint-stock commercial banks and local small- and medium-sized banks quickly followed suit with similar rate cuts. According to a June 16 report by China Economic Weekly, this is the seventh time deposit rates have been lowered since mid-2022, as the returns on principal and interest-guaranteed deposit products enter the 1% era. Many depositors lament that the days of easily lying down and earning interest are over. Beijing resident Wang Hong said, Keeping money in the bank, the interest just isn't cutting it anymore. Back when the annual rate was 4%, the yearly interest on 5 million yuan was enough to support an entire family. Now, with just 1% annually, interest alone is no longer sufficient. As deposits become less attractive, many people are left wondering, where else can they put their money? Still, many believe that keeping money in the bank is the safest option. Li Li, a depositor from Shaanxi, said she would continue saving at the bank. People like me save for security. A significant number of people still choose to save in banks. According to financial statistics from the People's Bank of China in April, household deposits increased by 7.83 trillion yuan in the first four months of this year. For others, bank deposits alone no longer meet their financial needs. Wang Hong admitted that the large-denomination certificate of deposit he secured five years ago is about to mature, and he hasn't decided what to buy next. Maybe I'll go for one of those treasure products. Daily treasure, weekly treasure, monthly treasure, or whatever. More and more restless depositors are now turning their attention to the wealth management market. As interest rates decline, the price comparison effect is becoming increasingly pronounced. Many people are now turning their attention to insurance products. Insurance broker Lin Nan explained, annuity insurance and participating whole-life insurance have become popular options for long-term retirement planning thanks to their ability to lock in returns. The younger generation's approach to financial management is also quietly changing. According to data from the Ant Fortune platform, as of the end of April, 937 million investors born in the 1990s and 2000s had allocated assets into money market funds, bond funds, and gold funds, collectively referred to as the New 3 Golds. However, whether it's investing in wealth management products, insurance, or betting on the New 3 Golds, these options all carry higher risks than traditional bank deposits. For ordinary people used to saving money for stability, this shift is not an easy one. Wang Yifeng, Chief Financial Industry Analyst at Everbright Securities, noted, the so-called 1% era or 2% era of deposit interest rates is more of a psychological threshold. The decline in deposit interest rates not only affects the wallets of depositors, but also profoundly impacts banks' operations. The net interest margin, the difference between the average yield on interest-earning assets and the average cost of interest-bearing liabilities, is a key indicator of a bank's profitability. This margin has been under downward pressure in recent years. Data shows that the net interest margin of China's commercial banks has fallen from 2.1% in 2019 to 1.52% in 2024. Some urban commercial banks are seeing margins as low as 1.38%. Wang Yifeng stated, for banks, the ongoing decline in interest rates involves not just deposit rates, but reflects a broader downward trend in the overall interest rate environment. On social media and online forums, many ordinary citizens have voiced concerns over the current economic situation and the safety of their personal wealth.