China s Economy Is Rewinding to the 1990s Millions Struggling to Survive

More than 1,000 households in this village have no one living in them. Look at this place. This one even has a big gate. This one is good. There's a garage inside and another one here too. There are two houses side by side. You can see they look wealthy and secure. The gate is huge and there's even a talisman hanging on it. But look around. This entire village, every house is empty. All empty. One after another. The three northeastern provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang were once the industrial heartland of China, famous for steel, coal, machinery, and heavy industry. But as market reforms reshaped the economy and industrial structures changed, these traditional industries gradually lost their competitiveness. Many state-owned enterprises collapsed. A local government debt rose, the real estate market declined, and economic growth in the region has lagged behind the national average for years. This is the main street, once the most prosperous commercial street in the town. Now one of the buildings has been completely abandoned and destroyed, and no one cares about it anymore. It feels as if no one is left in the city. The houses look like this everywhere. There are a few people living in some newer buildings ahead, but when you look at the shops along the street, it's already around six in the evening, and almost all the stores are closed. Something feels very wrong. In our village, there are more than 300 households. In the past, when you walked down the street, you would see elderly people chatting and children playing everywhere. It was lively and full of life. Now you can walk through the entire village in the morning, and no one will even notice you. There is simply no one. Has everyone stopped eating out? I just went downstairs to grab a meal, and there wasn't a single customer in the restaurant. I thought it may be everyone had gone home to eat, but when I went to the market, there weren't many people there either. People say everyone is ordering delivery now, yet even the delivery drivers look confused. Orders may seem plentiful, but they still don't earn much money in a day. Some people say everyone has moved back to the county towns, but even in the county towns, there are not many people. What is even more surprising is that from north to south, from Changchun to many other cities, this phenomenon seems to be happening everywhere across the country. Housing prices in some places have already fallen back to levels from 2015 and 2016. Some people even think it isn't enough, and hope prices fall back to the level of 2006. I never thought that the land market in Shenzhen this year would be so miserable. Have the cities in Guangzhou already become so cold? Look, these are the streets of Shanghai. It's empty everywhere. There are no people anywhere. I don't know where the people in Shanghai are now. There are no people in the city hall. It's hard to even find breakfast in the industrial areas. Do you feel that there are fewer cars on Beijing Road in Guangzhou? Today is the 23rd of the month. Is it because many people haven't come back to work yet, or have they gone somewhere else to find opportunities? In the past, walking this road meant high prices and booming sales. Back then, only we could sell 800 to 900 yuan a day. But over the past year, the economy has changed again and again. Now I can only sell about 600 yuan a day. If it goes on like this, I really can't hold on anymore. A few days ago, I went to Shanghai's Shuhui District and walked around the neighborhood. At one o'clock in the afternoon, there was no one on the road. It was terrible. Finding a job in Dongguan is also extremely difficult now. Downstairs, every day, people are gathering to look for work. Junior high school graduates, high school graduates, university graduates, all kinds of people. People from every industry are here because they can't find opportunities anywhere else. Now many people seem to be leaving the cities and returning to their hometowns to start over. Do you feel that too? In the past, when you were in downtown Guangzhou, everywhere you went was crowded. But this year, after returning, you notice that there are fewer cars on the road and fewer people everywhere. Buying tickets is easy, and many shopping malls are almost empty, with entire sections vacant. Beijing has a strange phenomenon this year as well. In the past, during the morning rush hour in areas like Tiantongyuan and Huilongguan, the subway felt like it could compress the human body. But this year, it's clearly much easier. On lines 5 and 13, you no longer have to wait for two or three trains just to squeeze in. Many companies in Beijing have laid off employees, some people have moved away, and others have simply returned to their hometowns. Have you noticed this when you ride the subway? Is a first-tier city like Shanghai really this cold now? Recently, I visited Pudong, Shuhui, and Jing'an to conduct a half-month survey of potential new store locations. What I saw made me question whether this was really Shanghai. In ordinary residential communities, almost no one goes out for lunch, and there are no restaurants full of customers. At 10.30 p.m., only convenience stores have a little business, while other shops remain empty one after another. In the past, a good shop could easily make 7,000 or 8,000 yuan a day. Now making 3,000 yuan is already considered decent. Although Shanghai's weather may be cold, the real winter isn't the climate. It's the economic environment. Why has the number of people coming to Shenzhen decreased so much? A few days ago, a woman selling street snacks told me she could only sell just over 100 portions a day. Can you believe that? In the past, selling 100 or 200 portions in a day in Shenzhen was easy. Now even that is difficult. A video released by a Beijing building materials market showed how empty the market has become. There are only a few customers, and many shops have closed their doors. This year has been one of the hardest years for the construction materials business in Beijing. Ten years ago, when Dongguan's population was close to 10 million, street food stalls were still crowded at three in the morning. Today, the population is still nearly 10 million, and the subway system has expanded, yet many streets are strangely empty. Why in places like Chang'an and the main commercial streets, many shops are shuttered? Where did all the people of Dongguan go? A Beijing netizen said this perfectly reflects the city's economy this year. In the past, the road from Xilihe to Guomao was always jammed with traffic. Now unless there is an accident, the road might be slow, but it rarely gets congested. How many physical stores can survive under these conditions? I really didn't expect the employment environment to become this bad. Has it really reached this point? I have a friend from my hometown who tried to find a waiter job in Beijing paying 5,000 yuan a month without social insurance. Meals included, but no accommodation. And even that job rejected him. When you apply for jobs now, whether at small companies or big companies, many don't even reply. Yeah, you don't know if the position is real or just a zombie listing. Open any recruitment app and you'll see that job postings update slowly, and competition is extremely fierce. I even applied for a position where three of my former colleagues were applying for the exact same job. That's how terrible the market is. Another sign of Shanghai's high unemployment rate can be seen in shopping malls, libraries and cafes during weekdays. These places are full of young and middle-aged people. Many of them are clearly unemployed or searching for jobs. But people who still have stable work often refuse to believe the situation is this serious. In some Shanghai malls, entire floors are nearly empty. On the second floor, many shops are closed. And by the third floor, almost every store has shut down. Only a few convenience shops remain open. This is Shanghai, and today is Sunday. The reality of Beijing is similar. The true Beijing is not the glamorous capital people imagine, but ordinary residents struggling as rent consumes half of their salary. In the old hutongs, most residents are ordinary people quietly living their daily lives without the glitter and luxury shown online. The same pattern appears across many other cities. In Foshan, the streets are far less crowded than before. In Chongqing and Nanhai districts, shopping malls that used to be packed with people now feel empty. Many workers are losing money, and garment manufacturing in Guangzhou has become extremely difficult. Factories have little work, shops are closing, and businesses are struggling to survive. Across the country, once prosperous commercial streets are now deserted. Foreign investment is withdrawing. Inn factories are shutting down, and retail stores are closing. The three engines of China's economy, investment, exports, and consumption appear to be slowing simultaneously, while the real estate sector remains trapped in crisis. Some analysts argue that China's economic boom over the past 40 years was built on global support. The United States provided export markets in favorable trade conditions, allowed China to join the World Trade Organization, and invested capital, technology, and manufacturing orders. Taiwan, South Korea, and many other economies transferred production bases to China, helping drive decades of growth. But now many believe that this era has ended, and that the Chinese economy may face a long period of decline. Today, Beijing has never felt so quiet. Roads that once suffered constant traffic jams now move smoothly. Many people who grew up in Beijing say the reality is far from the stereotype that all locals are wealthy homeowners with cars. Most are ordinary people still paying mortgages and car loans. Many middle-aged residents struggle to find work. Some have been unemployed for years. In Shanghai, friends tell similar stories. Companies have laid off employees, factories have dismissed workers, and graduates are searching desperately for jobs. Daily living costs continue to rise while income disappears. Walking through Dongguan now sometimes feels like walking through an empty city. Small shops close one after another. Office buildings stand half vacant. In parts of Shenzhen, entire blocks of office buildings remain empty despite their beautiful seaside views. The city that once symbolized opportunity now feels strangely quiet. You know, sometimes it makes people wonder whether the country has built far more infrastructure than its economy can actually sustain. You know, sometimes it makes people wonder