HUGE Crisis in Beijing: Millions Leave, Malls & Streets Empty, Those Left Behind Drown in Tears

The sleeper train from Shanghai to Beijing is about to depart. There's literally no one in the entire car, just me. Mr. Yang bought a sleeper ticket for the Shanghai to Beijing high-speed train. To his surprise, the entire carriage was empty except for him. His video sparked lively discussions online. Some people commented, the Beijing-Shanghai line is one of the busiest routes in China. It used to be hard even to get a ticket. Others found it hard to believe. No way, even if the economy isn't doing great, it can't be this bad, right? A few joked, wow, how luxurious, renting out the whole carriage. The high-speed train ride from Shanghai to Beijing takes about four hours. Midway through the journey, Mr. Yang updated his viewers, saying, even now, it's still just me in the carriage. Honestly, it's kind of creepy. Has Beijing, one of China's major cities, really gotten this quiet? It's noon and there's not a single person eating out. Where did everyone go? I'm starting to doubt if I'm really in Beijing. I'm heading to Yong'an Li Station on Metro Line 1, and this subway line barely has any passengers. It feels so strange. This is Xidan at 8 or 9 p.m., one of the busiest areas in Beijing. You can count the pedestrians on one hand. There are some festive decorations, but there's no holiday atmosphere. Tomorrow might feel even lonelier. Downstairs from Pete's apartment is a Shimaotianjie shopping mall. It's turned into a playground for kids. A friend of mine who manages restaurant equipment recycling in Beijing has to visit this place a few times a month. Only HMN and Uniqlo have their lights on. Even though the big LED screens are lit up, there's almost no one around. The Nayuki tea shop has already shut down for the winter. Looking at the dining areas downstairs, half of them are closed off for supposed renovations. Honestly, it seems more like the mall couldn't rent out those spaces and just gave them away for extra advertising. KT has only five or six tables occupied during mealtime, and this other milk tea shop hasn't had a single customer for at least five minutes. Hongbao has just one table occupied, and the people there seem to be calculating expenses. Maybe the owner. As for the noodle shop and hotpot restaurant, apart from delivery guys waiting outside and employees scrolling on their phones, I barely see anyone else. Interestingly, there's still plenty of people buying lottery tickets here. Maybe it's the one thing still doing well lately. The food court's occupancy rate is maybe 20 percent. They're already offering deals like spend 100 and get 20 free. They're even encouraging customers to clean up their own trays. Honestly, with so few diners, one staff member could handle it all. This place feels like a kid's play area now. Shibei's tables are sparsely filled, and Xiaobu Xiaobu Hotpot seems to be struggling even more. It lost a lot of money in its recent financial reports. The funniest thing is this old Sichuan hotpot chain. They're offering unlimited snacks and drinks, and even a two-person set menu for 139 yuan. But the 3 in 139 looks like it was changed. Not sure if it's because selling it cheaper was too much of a loss, or if pricing it higher scared customers away. Look at Beijing's luxurious World Trade Street now. This area, next to the famous Sanlitun and Silk Street markets, is located in the city's central business district. It's known for having Asia's largest LCD screen, the Dream Sky. Yet, this once-bustling commercial street is now eerily quiet and desolate. Ten years ago, the World Trade Street hosted New Year's Eve countdown events. Even in the freezing winter nights, it was packed with crowds. Hailing a taxi to get home was nearly impossible. At Beijing Railway Station, the scene is similar. The square outside isn't crowded. As I moved inside to check the waiting areas, there weren't many people at the entrances or in the station halls. Even the second-floor waiting room felt almost empty. What do you think of the building behind us? Is it innovative or a bit ugly? This is the famous Galaxy Soho on Beijing's East Second Ring Road. Let's take a look at the commercial scene inside. It's said to be a bit bleak. Once you step inside, you'll see it has its unique features divided into outdoor and indoor areas. From the outside, it looks deserted with very few pedestrians and almost no shops. When you enter the shopping mall, it's even emptier inside, with not a single person around. It's really dead. Despite its prime location, there are several ads posted, almost as if they're trying too hard to attract attention. As you walk around, you see that even the children's areas are closed. It's so desolate. Moving to another entrance, you'll find shops like a fashion medical spa and a Luckin Coffee tucked away on the second floor. It's the first time I've seen a Luckin Coffee in such a hidden spot. The mall feels like a maze with no clear exit. I had trouble finding my way out. Let's check out the basement level. Usually, a mall's basement has high foot traffic with lots of ads everywhere, but here it's incredibly deserted. The Galaxy Soho, a landmark in Beijing, is located at the southwest corner of Chaoyangmen Bridge on the East Second Ring Road. It covers 50,000 square meters, combining commercial and office spaces. It used to be a popular spot for photos, but now it's lifeless. The Beijing China World Trade Center has never been this bleak. Many netizens who visited found its vacancy rate high and foot traffic sparse. The electronic billboard is either off or showing cheap ads. And the once-glorious center that all of Beijing looked up to is now just a memory. It seems the area has turned into a place where elderly people take strolls. Despite several renovations over the years, the lackluster atmosphere remains due to vague market positioning and tightening spending. It's not just Galaxy Soho or China World Trade Center. Even Sanlitun and Wangfujing are incredibly bleak, with shops either deserted or closed down in rows. Running a physical store in Beijing is really tough. Just look at my street. One shop after another is closing down, with rental signs on the doors. But no one's renting. Some landlords are really desperate. They can't rent them out or sell them. It used to be that a shop could support three generations, with lots of people on the street and good business. Many wealthy people invested in storefronts, waiting for rental income. But now the business for physical stores is really bleak. Some stores have been vacant for six months, and those still open are barely hanging on. The shops that seem to survive are mostly fruit stores and barber shops. Although Beijing appears prosperous, it lacks the warmth of everyday life. The streets are gray, the roads are wide, and the buildings are dense. Commercial areas lack street vendors and street food, making the place feel not clean and tidy, but rather desolate and dreary. Today I'm taking you to see a food street in Wanjing. Let's check out its current state. This building is very close to Wanjing Soho, and surrounded by many offices and residential areas. It used to be a shopping mall, but it was later converted into an office building. Its basement level is an entire food street. This building is also near a Wanjing store. When the food street first started recruiting, they contacted us to open a store here. However, since it was too close to our Wanjing location, we didn't choose to open here. Now let's see the situation. It's really different from the past. When it first opened, it was bustling. They even invited us to open a barbecue shop here. Now it's 5 p.m., and it's almost empty inside. Across the street, a store is closed and blocked off. The Luckin coffee shop is still open, and there's a small fried snack shop still operating. But most places are closed and dark. There used to be a salad shop and a couple of seafood rice shops here, but they have all closed. Some signs are gone, so I don't know what those places used to be. It's now empty, and what used to be bustling is now a resting spot for delivery riders. Some say that Beijing, a megacity with over 20 million people, has lost its vibrancy, with serious faces everywhere, each with their own concerns. This description is quite accurate. Since 2017, when the city started clearing out the migrant population, small and medium-sized businesses were hit the hardest, with retail and dining sectors bearing the brunt. Previously, people in Beijing used to say, as long as you know how to make soup dumplings, you won't starve. But now, there's no place to sell them. This is the change Beijing has seen in recent years. Many shops in Beijing have high vacancy rates, but entry barriers are also high, making it difficult for small vendors. Even if you create jobs, it doesn't matter, because the people you hire are considered low-end population and would be driven out. Why does Beijing prefer large chain enterprises with substantial capital? Because they're easier to manage and pay higher taxes. Beijing would rather have 100 general taxpayers than 10,000 small taxpayers. On Douyin, a vlogger named Yuanbaobao shared her struggles. She traveled over 1,000 kilometers from Heilongjiang to Beijing's Majia Bridge, only to go three months without finding stable work. When her mom called to ask about life in Beijing, she could only say, it's fine, while choking back tears. Nearing the new year, she's too afraid to go home, unsure of what to do next. Why is it so hard for college graduates to find jobs now? I'm a master's graduate in computer science from the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing. My job requirements are minimal, no more than two days of overtime a week, subway commutes under four hours, two days off, five basic insurances and one housing fund, and a salary of 10,000 yuan. I don't need all five conditions, just three would be fine. But over the past two years, none of the three jobs I've held lasted long. It's either layoffs due to poor company performance, or the company couldn't pay salaries. Right now, I'm barely surviving in Beijing. Is this because I'm not working hard enough? I spend four hours on the subway every day, not sitting, but standing. I constantly pull out my laptop to revise proposals even while commuting. I leave home at around 7 a.m. to return to my 3,000 yuan rental late at night, around 11 or 12. After rent and food, I'm left with just one or 2,000 yuan a month. Even with all this, I stuck with the job. But in less than a year, the company stopped paying salaries, forcing me to quit. I'm still in arbitration over unpaid wages. Today, I saw new stats, 12.2 million college students for the 2025 class, up from less than 8 million five years ago. Employment rates for masters and Ph.D. holders in 2024 are only 33 percent. It's even worse for undergraduates and vocational school grads. I come from a small county in Shanxi, where my parents are ordinary workers. I've studied hard for over a decade, and I've worked hard enough. The video of a graduate from a top Beijing university struggling to find work went viral on Douyin, garnering 357,000 likes and 41,000 comments. In the video, she details her job search, during four-hour commutes on crowded subways and working late into the night, only to face layoffs and pay cuts. Despite her relentless efforts, she can barely sustain herself. She questions why her life turned out this way, leaving many struck by her words. After all these years of hard work, where did I go wrong? Under her video, numerous users shared their own experiences. Honestly, I graduated from Xi'an Jiaotong University with a bachelor's degree. Now I'm frying food at a burger joint in exchange for meals and accommodation. No insurance, no pension, just 6,000 yuan a month. The scariest part isn't that wages aren't being paid. It's going three months without pay and still being afraid to quit. I'm a 2023 graduate. I'm working myself to exhaustion because I'm terrified of unemployment. I'll take any job, no matter how hard or dirty, as long as it pays. I graduated last year, and I couldn't find decent work in my hometown. I had to take a job as a factory repair worker just because the pay was slightly higher. The working environment is harsh and dusty. My girlfriend cried seeing me go through this, but I can't quit. I'm scared I won't find another job. Sometimes I wonder if working harder will fix things, but in reality, some things aren't within our control. The workplace in Beijing is brutally competitive. People joke that workers in Beijing fall into two categories, either unemployed or overwhelmed. Layoffs at big corporations are routine, and small and medium enterprises consider surviving a victory. Walking past the central business district at night, you will no longer see brightly lit offices. Many are dark, and the atmosphere has shifted completely. Everyone is overworked, often doing the jobs of multiple people, and salaries are delayed. Conversations are no longer about promotions, but whether your name will be on the next layoff list. The anxiety and pressure have become the new norm. That's why so many are leaving Beijing for other cities. Honestly, if it weren't for personal commitments, I might have left too. The economic downturn in China has affected every sector, and Beijing has felt the brunt of it. Many expressed frustration online at the job market. A Douyin vlogger reflected on life in Beijing in 2024, saying it's the hardest year yet. The economy is rough across the board. It's harder to make money. Smaller businesses are either laying off staff or shutting down. Even those that manage to stay afloat are robbing Peter to pay Paul, delaying wages, dodging debts, and negotiating with creditors. Bosses aren't even like bosses anymore. Every time our boss heads out with his bag, we know he's out hustling for business, trying to make sure we can still get paid. Another person highlighted the harsh realities of Beijing's job market. In 2024, competition for jobs is fiercer than ever. Companies quietly screen applicants with unspoken rules. No vocational school graduates. Education's too low. No fresh graduates. Lack of experience. No one over 30. Too old. No unmarried women. Risk of marriage and maternity leave. No married women without kids. Likely to have children soon. No married women with kids. Family distractions. No frequent job hoppers. Unreliable. Over 30? Don't bother. Your application won't even be opened. Even sending out hundreds of resumes often leads nowhere. Most are ignored or left unread. Landing an interview feels like winning the lottery, only to receive a brief 10-minute session and a vague, we'll get back to you. Walking the crowded streets of Beijing, the city now feels emptier. Even the subway seems less packed. It leaves people wondering, why cling to life in Beijing? Is it for a distant dream? Or is it pride that won't let them leave?