China’s economic slide drives millions into poverty, desperation, and grief

The social situation in China is very sad. The people are short of money, the government is short of money, the banks are short of money, the local governments are short of money, the state-owned enterprises are short of money, the private enterprises are short of money, the people who sell houses are short of money, and the people who buy houses are short of money. If we remove some minors and the elderly, almost everyone is short of money. It is said that the economic development of our country is getting better and better, so why do we have less and less money in our pockets? I really regret it. I spent more than 1 million yuan to buy a house in 2019, but now no one wants it even at 800,000 yuan. It is right next to Wuyue Plaza, and I still have hundreds of thousands in loans. I have to pay 4,000 yuan a month for 15 years. If I sell the house, I will lose hundreds of thousands of yuan, which is equivalent to 300,000 or 400,000 yuan. I have no money left. I work so hard, but now it is difficult to do business, and I can't make any money. What should I do? I usually act quite optimistic in videos, but money can really overwhelm a middle-aged woman. Today, something happened that really broke my defenses. My son is having his third birthday today. I wanted to buy him the cheapest birthday cake. I searched the entire Internet and found that the cheapest one was 44 yuan, but at this time I only had a little over 20 yuan on my card. At that moment, I felt very wronged. Why is life so difficult? I am 37 years old, and I can't even buy a 44 yuan cake for my son. I feel so powerless. As the economy falls into a downturn, Chinese household assets are depreciating rapidly. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2024, China's per capita net property income was 3,435 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.2%. This is the lowest annual growth rate since 2014. Official data shows that since 2019, the growth of per capita net property income has continued to decline, with the only exception being 2021, when it saw an annual growth of 10.2%. In Shenzhen, the worst-off group has already emerged, revealing a terrible phenomenon. Many people can no longer pay their mortgages. Some houses are sold, but the proceeds are not enough to repay bank loans. If the market continues like this, many people will face serious problems. Salaries have stagnated, and those in business can't make money. Incomes have dropped, and housing prices are falling. The wind is blowing colder and colder. Selling isn't right, but not selling isn't right either. If you sell, you lose money and spit blood. If you don't sell, you can't pay the mortgage. People trapped in this dead end are in the worst situation. What's even more terrifying is that no matter how much you lower the price, no one is interested, and you simply can't sell. This is not just a consumption downgrade, it's a collapse. Stores are suddenly empty. The phrase no one in the store has become the most discussed topic. The clothing industry was hit first as people stopped buying clothes. In 2024, it faced its worst crisis, with both physical and online sales plummeting. A penny can make a hero fall. Last night, I had a small gathering with a few good friends outside. What we talked about most was everyone's current life and work situation. Two of my friends complained that their monthly mortgage, car loan and credit card payments together require more than 7,000 yuan, not counting daily expenses. One of them now earns 4,000 yuan a month, and his family's total income is about 10,000 yuan. By Yulin's standards, this isn't a low salary, but he said that sometimes he still feels completely overwhelmed. I can tell when a restaurant is about to go bankrupt. Every day, I talk to desperate owners who know they won't last a year. Some ask for help selling their businesses, others just want to hand over everything in exchange for one month's rent. How did restaurant owners become this desperate? He avoided layoffs, but not pay cuts. Today, he sits silently on the balcony, lost in thought. After being laid off twice, I became a full-time mother. Our family depended on his income, but now, with a shrinking paycheck and a mortgage to pay, the pressure is immense. Chinese residents' net property income is declining, reflecting the shrinking wealth of the middle class. In Beijing, per capita net property income has fallen for three years, dropping 0.6% in 2024 to 12,205 yuan, over one-fifth of the average wage. Four months ago, I was a respected doctor in Beijing. Now I'm drowning in debt. I sold everything but still owe nearly 10 million yuan. My watch, worth 130,000 yuan, is all I have left. I can't escape my creditors, and life has never felt harder. Many are actively returning to poverty. My family left Beijing for Fuzhou, saving nearly 500,000 yuan a year. Instead of chasing higher income, we chose a cheaper lifestyle. Even our approach to education changed. Once set on private schools, we now appreciate public schools. As a Beijinger, I see the truth behind the economy. Most people I know have little to no savings, some even in debt. The illusion of wealth, luxury cars and watches, is just that. A family burdened with debt faces not just financial strain, but a complete deterioration in quality of life. Today, while drying quilts outside, I met Ma Su. She asked to borrow 10,000 yuan. Years ago, her husband's income made us all envious. They bought a Beijing home for over 2 million yuan. But now, with its value halved and her husband jobless, they're struggling to pay the mortgage and arguing over money. With real estate crashing, the middle class is crumbling. Many who emptied their savings for homes are now bankrupt. My husband and I worked 16 years in health care, lost 1 million yuan on a house, and paid a 9-year mortgage in vain. We never even took a holiday, yet we lost everything. If Zheng Cheng's housing market keeps falling, countless families will collapse. Many are already drowning in debt, their assets worthless. Auctions of old and luxury homes are rising as people lose jobs and businesses. They simply can't repay their loans. China's economic depression has left many middle-aged people jobless. It's too hard. As China's economy continues to decline, unemployment has swept across all industries. Many middle-aged workers have been laid off and are struggling to find new jobs. Burdened by mortgages and car loans, they lament, losing a job in middle age is just too hard. Many unemployed middle-aged Chinese have turned to social media to share their struggles, resonating with netizens. A netizen named Xiaolong Herring posted a video saying he was 36 years old and had been unemployed for over a year. He previously worked in software implementation and other roles at insurance companies, but after losing his job, he has been unable to find a suitable position. To keep up with mortgage payments, he has resorted to delivering takeout and selling grilled sausages at a street stall. In his video, Xiaolong Herring said, Being unemployed in middle age is incredibly tough. I feel anxious all the time and don't know what to do. For a while I stayed up late every night setting up stalls or delivering food. But after some time I realized I couldn't wake up in the morning, felt dizzy in the afternoon, especially in the middle of a delivery, and struggled to sleep at night. He added that despite taking medication for days, he still feels dizzy and worries that his body won't be able to handle the strain if this continues. Another netizen, Serving a Good Man, shared his anxiety after being laid off from a major company. He has been out of work for six months, his savings have nearly run out, and he avoids socializing. He even questions whether he has become a complete failure. I keep asking myself lately, have I been forgotten and abandoned by the world? I've been unemployed for over six months and haven't been able to find a job. After returning from the New Year holiday, I couldn't even get an interview. I'm deeply anxious and lost. I don't know when I'll find work or what the future holds. My son is about to start kindergarten. If I still can't find a job, how will I support him? He said. Netizen Chunjie, Working Hard, posted a video saying she was 45 years old, unemployed in middle age, and had elderly parents and young children to care for. However, she couldn't afford to lie flat and didn't know what to do. Choking up in front of the camera, she said that after being laid off, it took her a month to adjust before she even dared to go outside. That month felt like a year. She couldn't sleep at night and was anxious every day. Half of her hair turned white, and her weight dropped from 60 kilograms to 49 kilograms. The airline company cut wages, forcing pilots to deliver food and flight attendants and ground staff to set up stalls. This sounds like a movie plot, but it is a true portrayal of Xian Xingfu Airlines. Former flight attendant, Do you want to buy a drink? Is it delicious? It tastes good. Former flight attendant, My previous job was a respectable one in the eyes of adults and parents. Suddenly, I came to set up a stall. In fact, I was afraid of meeting acquaintances at the beginning. Young people should be more open-minded and do what they like. It's not shameful. The career of a flight attendant looks glamorous, but many flight attendants have said that it is not as good as the outside world perceives, and the salary is not high. Indeed, many airlines are suffering from heavy losses. Xian's own airline, Xingfu Airlines, was previously exposed for long-term delays in employee wages and social security. Some pilots have to make a living by delivering food and driving for Didi. To attract customers, airlines have sharply reduced the prices of air tickets in many places in the mainland, selling them at bargain prices. Today, we will talk about related topics. Recently, news that many netizens in mainland China grabbed tickets from Chengdu to Beijing on a certain travel platform for only three RMB has attracted attention. In the eyes of the public, being a flight attendant is an enviable job, where you can fly into the blue sky and travel around the world, and the salary and benefits are also good. But this flight attendant resigned, saying that this job is very harmful to people's health. I quit after flying for about four years. After the epidemic, my income was too low, about 3,000 yuan a month. I thought it would be better to be a cleaner, who can make 4,000 to 5,000 yuan a month. Many flight attendants had to do part-time jobs, such as modeling, micro-businesses, etc. Just like the flight attendant of China Southern Airlines who shot a commercial for her underwear in the bathroom. The career of flight attendants is actually glamorous on the outside. Our usual work is actually to serve meals, clean toilets, move boxes, and then be a vent for passengers. In fact, the values of our circle are very bad. For example, once our leader told us in a meeting, Why do those rich people like you? Isn't it because of your uniform? There are many people who are younger and prettier than you. Isn't it because you are flight attendants? What is special about you after taking off this uniform? You should know that you don't want to do this job, but there are many people who want to do it. My three views were completely destroyed after listening to it, but there are still people who are self-disciplined and can only keep themselves out of trouble. Most people want to find a rich man as soon as possible to escape the fire pit. These two were also flight attendants before. The girl on the right worked in China Southern Airlines for three years. She said that sometimes the company's practices are unacceptable to employees. Let me tell you a case from my own experience. Doesn't every flight attendant in the airline have a name tag? It's right here. It stipulates that the distance from the shoulder to the name tag is 10 centimeters. Because we had to wear aprons when serving meals, we had to take off the name tag and pin it on the apron because we couldn't wear two name tags at the same time. But during the meal-serving process, everyone was very busy in such a short time, and I didn't have time to check the height. Anyway, I wore it crookedly that day, and the height was not high enough, so it was checked. Then they said my name tag was not qualified, and they gave me a rectification order. And I was rectified for a month. I had to carry a notebook with me during that month, which meant every time I took a flight, others knew I had made a mistake. I flew very carefully that month, and it was really frustrating. I wanted to cry while pulling my suitcase. This was also one of the reasons I resigned later. You can't make mistakes in an airline. Even a small mistake makes you feel like a sinner for eternity. This girl is named Xiaobei, and she was a flight attendant for four years. During the pandemic, her income was too low, so she resigned. She said everyone thinks flight attendants are glamorous and earn a lot, but that's not the reality. When times are bad, flight attendants earn only 3,000 yuan a month. When times are good, they earn at most about 10,000 yuan. Our colleagues often joked, saying, we flight attendants work day and night. How can we ever get proper sleep? In aviation, if you have an early flight, you need to get up at 3 a.m. to put on makeup. If it's a full-day flight, you might not finish until one or two in the morning, then drag your big suitcase home alone. One of the factors contributing to airline losses is competition from high-speed rail, but the real reason behind it is insufficient demand in the Chinese market. In the past, people would travel regardless of how expensive the tickets were. Now, they only travel when tickets are cheap. Hello, everyone. I'm a 40-year-old former model who was eliminated from the industry and is about to start delivering food. I've been busy applying for my health certificate these past few days, and today I finally started working. I'm a little excited. In fact, I tried a few orders over the past two days to familiarize myself with the delivery process. Except for the cold weather, I think it's manageable. Of course, it's much worse than before. I'm starting to take orders. I'll deliver my first order of fried pancakes now. Many people don't believe I'm delivering food, and some even leave nasty comments online. But for me, I don't expect to make much money from food delivery. I just hope to cover my living costs with part-time work. It's fine if it helps me afford three meals a day. The moment I step out and deliver food, I earn money, which is much better than staying idle at home. The Chinese economy is in trouble, and unemployment is becoming increasingly serious, especially among middle-aged men, creating enormous pressure on families. After being laid off, a 38-year-old man in Beijing secretly delivered takeout without telling his wife. When she found out, their conversation went viral online. According to reports, the man graduated from a 211 university, a group of prestigious universities recognized by the Ministry of Education of the Communist Party of China. In the video, a woman cleaning the bathroom at home found a crumpled piece of white paper under the bed. After unfolding it, she was shocked. It was a layoff notice with her husband's name and the company's official seal clearly printed on it. She realized her husband had been unemployed. What confused her was that her husband had been going out early and coming home late every day since that day, showing no signs of anything unusual. Was he deliberately hiding this? After dinner, her husband sat in front of the computer as usual. The wife approached him with the layoff notice. Wife, do you still have to go to work? What about the children's expenses at the end of the month, our rent, various bills, and your debts? Husband, I'm delivering food. Wife, let me ask you, can you manage this alone? Husband, yes. The wife hugged her husband and cried.