Factories are closing and being demolished across Dongguan. The shopping mall is deserted

Factories are closing and being demolished across Dongguan. The shopping mall is deserted. China was once known as the factory of the world. With cheap and stable labor, many foreign companies came to China to invest and build factories. However, with the precipitous decline of China's economy in recent years, increasingly stringent policies on foreign investment and ideological tightening, a large number of foreign companies have been scared away. The manufacturing city of Dongguan in Guangdong province has clearly felt the chill of foreign investment withdrawal. Why has Dongguan fallen from the world's factory to this? In the past, the streets were crowded. But now the industrial park is desolate, and companies are withdrawing. Dongguan is really changing. The era of working may be over. Look, after the 15th day of the first lunar month, there used to be crowds here. People were everywhere at the factory gates. Look at these industrial parks. I'm in one now, and there are not many people. Recruiters are stationed at the gates, trying to hire because there are far more recruiters than job seekers. Why? Dongguan's wages are too low now. Wages are low, overtime pay is low, and workers are exhausted. There are no people in Dongguan. They have all returned to their hometowns. The city's appearance remains poor, education is subpar, and making money is difficult. It is essentially an urban-rural junction. Everyone should just lie flat like me. There is no future in Dongguan. Dongguan is not the only city experiencing the withdrawal of foreign capital. Kunshan is also facing the same dilemma. Kunshan City in Jiangsu Province, known as Little Taipei, was once one of the most intensively invested areas by Taiwanese businessmen in China. Kunshan also had many foreign companies. However, with the increasing withdrawal of Taiwanese and foreign-funded factories and the sharp decline in trade orders, Kunshan's economy has also been hit hard, leading to the closure of numerous factories. Kunshan, China's strongest county-level city, has recently been in turmoil due to the withdrawal of some large factories. Factory orders have dropped sharply, massive layoffs have occurred, and orders have been shifted to factories in Vietnam and India. On one hand, many factories in Kunshan are cutting costs to cope with the sharp decline in exports. On the other hand, job agencies and sales management offices in Kunshan are crowded with people looking for work, and wages for Kunshan workers have been dropping repeatedly. Kunshan may fare even worse than Dongguan in the future. Although it was once a shining beacon of China's economy, Kunshan is now facing the challenge of industrial transformation. The relocation of large-scale intensive factories has caused the city's industrial chain to collapse rapidly. The economy has plunged into a downturn, and foreign workers have left one after another. At least 300,000 people have left Kunshan this year. My biggest impression during this visit to Suzhou is that there are fewer people in the industrial park. There are many factories, but they are no longer operating 24 hours a day. The most intuitive feeling of doing business locally is that there are fewer customers. Samsung and many foreign companies have already withdrawn from Suzhou. The withdrawal of foreign capital and the relocation of factories have had the greatest impact on workers who depended on them for a livelihood. A factory is moving out today, leaving its employees stranded at the entrance. It's tough. What impact does the withdrawal of foreign capital have on ordinary people? The most direct impact is lower income and increased competition. Over the past two years, Suzhou has seen the continuous departure of foreign-funded enterprises. In reality, whether foreign or domestic, as long as an enterprise operates normally, it provides jobs. Once these foreign-funded enterprises leave, a large number of basic workers become unemployed and are forced to switch to other industries or companies, leading to even fiercer competition and lower wages. This blogger has described the current situation accurately. Indeed, the large-scale withdrawal of foreign capital from China has taken a significant amount of investment with it. This has been followed by the relocation of factories and production lines out of China, resulting in massive job losses for Chinese workers, further impacting the country's economy. It is not easy for workers to enter factories now, and many bosses also work in factories. Man, there are many people looking for jobs here. They know nothing and think they cannot do this job because they are not good enough. In fact, it is because the factory has too high requirements. The production and quality control standards in the factory are too high, causing 90% of people to be eliminated even in the simplest factories. So many people in their 30s and 40s have no house or car, can't get married, have no stable job, and eventually lose their health, yet they still think they are useless. It's so sad. Man, another team leader from a factory told me that most of the temporary workers in their factory are illegal residents, and many of them are former bosses. The bosses have become deadbeats and illegal residents. Moreover, even if temporary workers are paid in cash, their wages are 30 yuan lower than those of regular temporary workers. According to news reports these days, 300,000 migrant workers are stranded in Zhejiang and Shanghai, unable to find work. They came in a hurry and left quickly within two days. Brothers, let me show you how bad the market is this year. See, I am now in the largest clothing village in Guangzhou, Chaonan New Street. It is already 11 o'clock in the morning. Look, this street is full of clothing workers. Thousands of people have not found a job yet. It feels like this year has ended before it even started. It is difficult for people to find jobs, so they are all trying to tighten their belts, which naturally directly affects the business of physical stores. What is shocking is that while there used to be few people in the mall, now the mall is almost closed. Woman, no stores are open, all are fenced off. How can a mall have so many fences? There are fences over there, over there, over there, over there, and over there. Man, all industries are in recession. Look, they have all collapsed. Everything has collapsed. Hey, no one is doing business. I have been walking around until I found this one. There is one more, two more in the back, where we usually play. See, they are not even cleaned. Everything has stopped. There is only one parent, no one collects tickets, and the children are playing inside. All industries are in recession. It is truly a rare situation in the history of modern business. The takeaway store collapsed. The clothing store collapsed. Look at these high-tech beauty and medical equipment stores. They are all closed down. It is so scary. Take a look. This is the entire second floor. Basically, everything is closed. You can see that the elevator on the third floor has stopped at the side and is surrounded by tents. The fourth floor is also surrounded. Basically, all the stores on the third and fourth floors are closed. Customers are not allowed to go up. This is the first floor. There are about seven or eight businesses on the first floor, which are retail department stores. Big brands are big brands, and they are still surviving. The gate on the first basement floor is closed. This mall has only been open for one and a half years, but it collapsed within half a year. This mall, oh, is so scary. In China, the unemployment rate is rising sharply. College students can't find jobs. Factories are closing down. Companies are laying off employees, and many people are facing an age crisis at 35, making it even harder to find a job. Do you know how many people in Zhejiang are unemployed and can't find a job this year? Our current situation is that a lot of people are delivering couriers and food, and it is already close to saturation. Most people, if they don't have other jobs to choose from in the future, will opt for taxis, online car hailing, food delivery, or courier services as a temporary transition. Moreover, Zhejiang is now a city with high living costs and low income. Right now, the average salary for adults is barely enough to support an entire family. In this situation, the Chinese government does not try to increase employment opportunities or help the people solve their livelihood crisis, but instead spares no effort to develop so-called high-tech solutions and use artificial intelligence to take jobs away from Chinese people. China's economy keeps declining. Despite the CCP's claims to boost it, its actions drive away foreign capital. Severe unemployment is hitting physical stores, leaving people with no money. Instead of addressing livelihoods and jobs, Beijing pushes AI to replace workers, worsening the crisis. Whether this is care or harm, many can judge for themselves.