The Great Migration – Millions Are Leaving Shanghai

It's all covered in today's China Truths. This time I came to Shanghai, I suddenly found that Shanghai seems very depressed. There are not many people in the shopping malls, and many factories have closed down. Look at this airport, it is also deserted with very few people. The netizen lamented that there is really no comparison between Shanghai now and the metropolis of previous years. He checked and found that Shanghai has experienced a net outflow of people in recent years. A man visited a newly opened shopping mall in Shanghai and found that there was very little foot traffic inside. Let's go to Guozhen and take a look at Shanghai. I heard people say that the economy is very depressed now, and we'll see if there are more people there. There are no people here at all. What's wrong with the city's economy now? No one is consuming anymore. The man said, this is a common phenomenon in shopping malls in China nowadays. They are empty. Look, this is the first floor. Look, this is the first floor below the mall. This is a common situation in shopping malls. In addition to shopping malls, store closures in Shanghai are also severe. A female restaurant owner expressed her dilemma. Do you know how difficult it is to transfer stores now? The transfer notice has been posted for a month. From the initial 100,000 yuan, it dropped to 80,000, 60,000, 50,000, and still no one accepted even 30,000 yuan. Now I've told the landlord that when the rent expires in February, I won't rent it anymore and will let him rent it directly. Today, I found a chef who buys second-hand kitchenware to come and take a look. Such a big display cabinet, such a big air conditioner, and such a big freezer. Pack them all together, and he offers me 1,500 yuan. Oops, I'm speechless now. These subway stations in Shanghai, which were once crowded, are now described as deserted, which is no exaggeration at all. In the past, we couldn't even transfer a shop like this for 300,000 yuan. The woman said that there are basically no people in places like commercial streets around subway stations, and they can't even sell snacks. This is Shanghai, a first-tier city. She said that it is really difficult to do business in physical stores in Shanghai this year. Moreover, the group of post-80s working people around her, who are about the same age as her, are also among those laid off by their companies. How difficult will it be for Shanghai this year? There are nearly 5 million foreigners here. Shanghai used to have 2.6 million permanent residents, but now the number is almost only 2,000. Sujiahui was once a high-profile area and a commercial center in Suhui District, Shanghai. The current scene is in stark contrast to the past. The woman said that the rent in this place used to be at least several million yuan, but now it is even more expensive, and it is estimated that no one will come to open a store. Most of the stores that can open here are big brands, and they are probably struggling. Now, even supermarkets in Shanghai have very few customers. China's economy has almost completely deteriorated, and this number is shocking. Shanghai's economic downturn has a lot to do with the withdrawal of foreign capital. Previously, as an international metropolis, Shanghai often saw foreigners. Now, not many foreigners. There were foreigners everywhere before, but there are fewer foreigners now. Only a small number of foreigners in the city, but there are no foreigners in the suburbs. This video shows that the foreign streets in Shanghai are deserted. Shanghai's Laowai Street used to be brightly lit and crowded with people, but now all the foreigners have left, and there is not a single foreigner to be seen. Today is the weekend, and there is no one on Laowai Street on weekend nights. The owner of a Shanghai factory expressed his frustration. The man said, Given the current situation, in two days, all of my processing factories, about 10 in total, will stop working, and there will be no work to do. At present, there are 217,000 pieces already in the warehouse, excluding the processing factories. I don't know if other businesses are doing well, but if this continues, all of my dozen or so factories will cease operations. There will be no work at all. A blogger explained why many outsiders left Shanghai and revealed a shocking fact. Two to three million people have left the city. I was chatting with a few friends in Shanghai today. They estimated that two to three million people have left Shanghai over the past two or three years. Why did these friends leave? They said it was because there was no work, so they had to return to their hometowns. Now, even wealthy people in Shanghai have begun evacuating. The woman said, Is Shanghai going to change? Many foreign companies have left, and the wealthy in Shanghai are selling their houses to cash out and fleeing the city. I've been in Shanghai for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen such a situation. She observed that this year, many houses have been mortgaged for loans. Is there some major development happening? Additionally, the real estate market has been continuously lowering interest rates recently. Did they know some insider information in advance? Are they preparing to leave Shanghai? This blogger noticed the same trend. Shanghai landlords are truly panicking and have started fleeing. Many people, especially those from other regions, are selling their houses in Shanghai and buying property elsewhere. This has become the choice for many. Some Shanghai residents waited until their children completed the college entrance exams before selling their houses and leaving. Others with younger children decided it wasn't worth staying, quickly sold their houses and ran away. Shanghai locals also discuss the employment situation with netizens from other provinces. This once-famous bakery, established 30 years ago, has now closed down as Shanghai's economy continues to decline. Even the economy of Shanghai, China's first-tier international metropolis, has deteriorated to such an extent, highlighting how weak China's economy has become. The employment situation in Shanghai is dire. A blogger recently spent two days in Shanghai and shared their grim observations. Let me tell you how tough the job market is this year. Even someone working at the Oriental Pearl Tower earns only 5,000 yuan a month. Finding a job in Shanghai has become increasingly challenging. Positions offering just 4,000 to 5,000 yuan monthly are in high demand, with college graduates struggling to secure employment. The blogger shared a striking example. A company advertising for a conference room attendant paying 4,000 to 5,000 yuan received over 500 resumes, including applications from undergraduates and even two master's degree holders. Now even master's degree holders in Shanghai can't find jobs. A heart-wrenching scene was described of an unemployed college graduate crying on the subway, expressing despair over the dire employment situation. Fresh graduates recount their struggles. A woman lamented, Can I still find a job in Shanghai this year? Boss Jipin is useless. Either they read my messages but don't reply, or they ignore my resume altogether. A man observed, Why does Shanghai's economy feel worse than that of second- or third-tier cities? Nearly everyone I know has been laid off in the past two years. Some haven't found a job for nearly two years and have gone back to their hometowns. Another woman, who interviewed for roles like director, operations and sales A.E., shared her frustration. Every company I interviewed with offered just 6,000 yuan before tax. After taxes, it's barely over 4,000 yuan. How can anyone survive in Shanghai on that? I used to think salaries here were at least 10,000 yuan a month. This is terrifying. Some college graduates unable to find jobs have turned to food delivery, but their stories of hardship are often heartbreaking. Xi Jinping proposed the Chinese Dream in 2012 and defined it as, The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, specifically manifested in the prosperity of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation, and the happiness of the people. However, under his governance, China today is plagued by issues, the economy is rapidly declining, and people are living in hardship. The former Chinese Dream has now turned into, China is poor. Recently, it was reported that a 2014 survey on the wealth perception of the Chinese people showed that 77% of Chinese at that time believed they were richer than they had been five years earlier. More than 10 years later, in 2025, this proportion has dropped to only 36%. This indicates a rapid shrinking of Chinese people's wealth, with 74% of the population heading towards poverty. Now, facing a tariff war with tax rates of up to 245% imposed by the United States on Chinese exports, the prospect of economic recovery after the pandemic under the CCP government, along with the dream of wealth for the mainland population, is becoming increasingly distant. Everything is gradually closing in on the Chinese people. A period of hardship and extreme hunger is approaching across the entire land of China under the CCP's unprecedented leadership. Song Guocheng, a senior researcher at the Center for International Relations Research at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, and an expert on Chinese issues and international strategy, pointed out that the Chinese people now face 10 difficulties. Difficulty eating, difficulty dressing, difficulty attending school, difficulty finding jobs, difficulty getting married, difficulty having children, difficulty with housing, difficulty getting medical care, difficulty with elderly care, and difficulty with funeral arrangements. These 10 difficulties encompass almost every stage of life, cradle to grave, where everything is difficult. Song Guocheng remarked that China is experiencing a major historical shift from the Chinese dream to Chinese poverty. He used eight words to describe China's current economy, deep and incurable, and summarized the 10 most worrying phenomena on the mainland. 1. Extreme Gap Between Rich and Poor According to statistics from the Chinese Communist Party government, 960 million people in China have an average monthly income of less than 2,000 renminbi, accounting for nearly 70% of the population. At the same time, 1% of the Chinese population controls 90% of the nation's wealth, while the remaining 99% own only 10%. An extreme disparity between rich and poor. According to World Bank data, there are currently about 200 million people living in poverty in China, and the wealth gap between the richest and poorest families is 359 times. 2. Emergence of the Social Volcano According to the Wall Street Journal, a joint survey by Chinese and foreign scholars titled Social Volcano shows that in the past, Chinese people believed poverty was due to personal shortcomings, such as lack of ability or effort. Now, they attribute it to unequal opportunities and unfair economic systems. Song Guocheng calls this a social volcano marked by implosive social resentment, which manifests as dissatisfaction with Xi Jinping's system and despair over personal survival. 3. Desperate Young People Recently, a female employee of CICC passed away after struggling with mortgage payments following the collapse of the real estate market. In another case, a woman who graduated from a prestigious university in Beijing was found deceased in a rented apartment in Xi'an after repeatedly failing civil service interviews. Despite scoring at the top, these tragedies reflect a deeper reality. Job opportunities often depend on personal connections, bribes, or favoritism. With long-term unemployment and no clear path forward, many young people are quietly slipping into despair. Unable to face the harsh reality and receiving no support from the so-called People's Government, the CCP, they feel abandoned and hopeless. 4. Collapse of the Middle Class The piano industry, which symbolizes the socioeconomic status of the middle class, has also seen a cliff-like decline in sales. In the past year, 7,000 piano stores in China have closed down. The two leading piano brands, Helen Piano and Zhuhai Piano, both reported losses in the first half of this year. In Luoxi Town, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, known as the hometown of pianos in China, many piano manufacturers have shut down. This reflects the collapse of the Chinese middle class. 5. The Tragedy of the Silver Hair Generation Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that China currently has 290 million people aged 60 and above. And by 2035, this number will exceed 400 million, reaching 500 million by 2050. As China's economy continues to decline, elderly care is becoming one of the nation's most serious social issues. Song Guoqiang argues that China's welfare system is deformed and unfair. He calls it a wealth-enjoying system, where the rich enjoy high welfare benefits, while the poor are left with scraps. In Western countries, welfare systems typically favor the poor. But in China, CCP cadres and the wealthy enjoy perks like housing, medical care, cars, bonuses, bodyguards, and nannies. While the poor, especially the rural elderly, are left with minimal care and support, leading to a bleak old age. 6. Collapse of the Catering Industry Data from the Beijing Statistics Bureau shows that in the first half of this year, the total profit for catering companies in Beijing with annual revenues exceeding 10 million yuan was 180 million yuan, a sharp decrease of 88.8% compared to last year, with profit margins as low as 0.37%. This indicates that the entire catering industry is facing a crisis of dwindling profits. As of December 21, 2023, more than 1.265 million catering businesses in China had their licenses revoked, more than twice the number in 2022, setting a record for revoked licenses since 2020. In the first half of 2024 alone, 1.056 million catering-related businesses were deregistered or had their licenses revoked. In the first quarter of 2024, nearly 460,000 catering businesses closed, a 232% increase compared to 140,000 in the same period last year. Many newly opened restaurants shut down within one or two months, with some even closing just three days after opening. In the midst of the depression, a special industry of catering corpse collectors emerged in China, specializing in collecting kitchen utensils, tableware, etc., leftover from closed catering businesses and then reselling them secondhand. A Guangzhou operator said that since March this year, Guangzhou's catering industry has been caught in a wave of closures. And it is estimated that 40 to 50 sets of catering equipment can be recycled every month, 70% of which come from hotpot restaurants, followed by milk tea shops. 7. Involutionary Vicious Competition Due to factors such as overcapacity, insufficient domestic demand, and inventory backlogs, most Chinese companies have resorted to low-price competition and aggressive price wars. Taking the steel industry as an example, statistics from July 2024 show that the profits of key steel enterprises nationwide decreased by 88% year-on-year and 90% month-on-month, leaving them almost unprofitable. Only 1% of enterprises are still making small profits. Another example is the solar energy industry. The prices of the four major products—silicon materials, silicon wafers, battery cells, and components—have fallen by 40%, 48%, 36%, and 15% respectively since the beginning of 2024, setting a historical low. Some companies have even fallen below the cost line and are operating at a loss. 8. Leading Enterprises Are Shaky Evergrande New Energy Vehicle, one of China's leading automobile companies, lost 20.257 billion renminbi in the first half of 2024, an increase of 194.73% compared to the same period last year. Only 40 cars were sold during this period. In addition, China's real estate industry is in a bottomless decline. The top 10 real estate companies are all in debt or bankrupt. Even Vanka, one of the largest real estate developers in China and the world, is facing a crisis of insolvency. 9. The Emergence of Unfinished Children Since Xi Jinping vigorously promoted new quality productivity and concentrated national resources on high-tech industries, the highly educated generation that missed the previous economic boom has been severely neglected by society. These unfinished children—university graduates who cannot find jobs—are forced to accept low-paying jobs or face long-term unemployment. According to statistics, the number of college graduates in China this year has reached a record 11.79 million, while the unemployment rate for urban youth aged 16 to 24 rose to 17.1% in July, the highest level since the beginning of the year. This figure does not include students or the millions of unemployed youth in rural areas. 10. High Debt and Exhausted Finances As of 2022, the debt of China's central and local governments stood at 114 trillion yuan. The debt of state-owned non-financial enterprises was 220 trillion yuan, and the debt of the financial system was 56 trillion yuan, totaling 390 trillion yuan. This figure is three times China's GDP. In other words, China's GDP growth can no longer keep up with the government's fiscal deficit. All of the above phenomena are shocking. Yet, despite the economic downturn and widespread poverty, the CCP continues to spend heavily on various projects to enhance national prestige, such as foreign aid, the China Starlink project, Grand Canal construction, and the Peace Ark operation. While the Chinese people may survive on meager means, China's international status must not be diminished. Song Guoqiang bluntly stated that Xi Jinping's Chinese dream is not about improving the lives of the Chinese people, but rather about fulfilling his personal empire dream. He jokingly remarked, The people are suffering, but the CCP is scattering flowers. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. We will keep reporting on the Covid surge in China, so don't forget to subscribe to our channel and turn on the notification bell to get the latest videos. And thank you for tuning in.