Wave of Billionaires Fleeing China Delivers a Devastating Hit to the Economy

It's all covered in today's China Truths. Why are China's wealthy vanishing one after another? Where have the billionaires gone? And why are they quietly slipping away? I won't name names, you already know who they are. Today let's uncover the truth. When you finish this video, you'll see China from a perspective you've never imagined. A mass billionaire escape is underway. The richest are fleeing with their fortunes, leaving behind an economy on the verge of collapse. From untouchable power to sudden panic, the flight of China's elite is tearing apart the nation's financial core. This is China Truth, bringing you the stories others don't dare to tell. Take Shanghai, once the pride of China's modern boom. You can now rent a home here for just 300 to 400 yuan a month. Sounds impossible, right? Yet this is the harbor of Shanghai, a project that swallowed 200 billion yuan from the Luji Group and promised 100,000 luxury units. A few short years later, occupancy is below 5%. The colossal complex stands like a silent tomb, an empty city with barely a pulse. Have you ever set foot here? Could you imagine Shanghai sinking into this kind of silence? The so-called Paris of the East is now turning into a ghost city. Streets once bursting with crowds are empty, shops shudder one by one, and entire food markets look abandoned. At 10 a.m., the busiest hour for groceries, you'll find only a handful of shoppers. Restaurants, malls, and street vendors all share the same fate, frozen, lifeless, clinging to survival. Look around Shanghai today, and you'll see a once-vibrant metropolis dissolving into decay. Nangxiang, in northern Shanghai, was planned as a thriving hub of 100,000 residents. From afar, skyscrapers still pierce the skyline. But step inside the markets, and the illusion shatters. Three massive food halls now sit nearly empty. Stalls stand abandoned, prices slashed desperately, yet no buyers come. Shopkeepers wear faces of quiet despair. Many admit this year is far worse than the last. Business isn't just slow, it's dying. The downfall doesn't stop there. North Sichuan Road, once one of Shanghai's top three shopping streets alongside Nanjing Road and Huaihai Road, is unrecognizable. Once a buzzing artery of commerce, now it feels like a deserted back alley. The legendary People's Theater has been reduced to a small grocery stop, visited only by elderly neighbors. Imagine that. Shanghai's cultural landmarks shrinking into shadows of their past. Even hair salons slash prices to just 10 yuan, a little over a dollar, yet chairs remain empty. Subway trains run with almost no passengers. On April 18th, Shanghai's Line 9 had carriages completely vacant at 11 a.m. High-speed trains linking Shanghai to Hangzhou carried only a few passengers in total. These scenes would have been unthinkable a decade ago when Shanghai symbolized China's unstoppable rise. Yesterday on Huaihai Road, the lights were still shining bright, but behind the neon glow was something chilling, the unmistakable air of depression. Shanghai, the city once celebrated as China's beating economic heart, now feels like it's gasping for breath. Walk through Shanghai today, and the change is shocking. Baoshan's once-busy malls now echo with emptiness. Just a short distance away, Baoyang's commercial street feels even worse, lifeless, hollow, almost abandoned. Chuanyang Road, too, remains deserted, where fresh faces are nowhere to be found. The speed of decline is staggering. China's economy is unraveling before our very eyes. Local companies bleed losses, foreign firms pack their bags, and international tourists have stopped coming. Even giants like Tesla are cutting staff and scaling back projects, while small businesses collapse one after another. Owners who once dreamed of wealth now struggle to survive, many drowning in debt of tens or even hundreds of thousands of yuan. Walk down any street today, and you'll see the same picture. Shops up for transfer, for rent signs everywhere, profitable stores are rare treasures. Even Starbucks, Luckin, and KFC can't escape the gloom. Employees look busy but are secretly selling online just to make ends meet. Gig jobs like food delivery and ride-hailing, completely oversaturated. Landlords complain they can't find tenants. Factories keep moving out, and with them, the city's population shrinks day by day. It's hard to believe that 20 years ago, even with fewer cars on the road, Shanghai streets were never this empty. Where did all the people go? The answer lies partly in exports. Sales to Europe and the US, China's most profitable markets, have stalled or even declined. Worse still, new tariffs are looming in the second half of this year. At the same time, the rich are leaving in record numbers. On June 18th, Henley and Partners released their 2024 Wealth Migration Report. 15,200 millionaires are expected to exit China this year, up from 13,800 in 2023. That's a historic outflow of both people and capital. Their reasons? Economic uncertainty, geopolitical risks, and the promise of better opportunities abroad. Fitch ratings that has already downgraded China's credit outlook to negative, following Moody's downgrade late last year. Confidence is crumbling. This exodus isn't just about money, it's about fear. Beijing's authoritarian grip has crushed private business, leaving tycoons vulnerable. Xiao Jianhua, Wu Xiaohui, Ren Zhixiang, detained and sentenced. Jack Ma vanished from public view for months. Bao Fan disappeared suddenly. Sun Dawu was arrested and silenced. These cases send a chilling message. If you have wealth, you're a target. Those who can escape do. Those who can't live in fear. On top of that, entrepreneurs see no future in China's collapsing economy. With Western tariffs rising, selling goods abroad from China is becoming impossible. Their only choice is to move production overseas. No wonder Singapore, the US, and Canada are top destinations. And even Japan has become a surprising new favorite for China's wealthy migrants. The writing is on the wall. The collapse of confidence inside China is accelerating, and those with money are leading the escape. China's economy is plummeting. Is a great recession coming? Currently, Beijing is facing severe economic decline. Many companies have gone bankrupt, leaving countless workers jobless. Without a stable income, families are struggling to survive. More people are falling into poverty as their savings run out. Homeless shelters are overcrowded, and many are forced to sleep under bridges. The sight of people lining up for free food has become common. Life in the capital has turned into a daily struggle for survival. Shanghai is also suffering under the weight of the downturn. Once seen as a hub of prosperity, the city is now marked by rising unemployment. Restaurants, shops, and small businesses are closing one after another. Many young people, even with degrees, cannot find stable jobs. Families are cutting back on meals because money is running out. Some have been evicted from their apartments and now live on the streets. Hunger and hopelessness are spreading across the city. Shenzhen, once the symbol of China's economic miracle, is collapsing under the pressure of factory closures. Thousands of migrant workers who came seeking opportunities are now unemployed. With no income, many cannot afford rent and end up homeless. The city's once busy industrial zones are now silent and empty. People gather at bus stations and under flyovers just to find shelter. Some rely on charity meals to get through the day. The dream of Shenzhen has turned into despair. Currently, major cities across China are facing the same crisis. Guangzhou, Chengdu, and others are also seeing waves of bankruptcies and mass layoffs. The middle class, once hopeful, is rapidly disappearing. More and more people are falling into poverty with no way out. Homelessness is spreading as people lose both jobs and homes. Shelters cannot accommodate the growing numbers, forcing many to sleep in public spaces. The economic collapse is leaving ordinary citizens with no hope for the future. Bankruptcies explode and unemployment surges across China's biggest cities, leaving millions desperate and hopeless. The collapse is no longer hidden, it's spreading everywhere. And is China plunging headfirst into a Great Depression? It's all covered in today's China Truths. Six yuan per hour, all of them are six yuan. The market conditions are not good this year, all of them are six yuan. You can do it whether you want to or not, all of them are six yuan. A campus recruitment in Guangdong is offering salaries ranging from five to eight yuan. College students, this is the 21st century, it's 2025. Tell me, what can you do with eight yuan? And it was only for one month. At first, I thought it was written wrong, so I went on the internet to check it out, and it turned out to be true. Does this mean we have to go back to the time before the reform and opening up? Even when I went south to Guangzhou, people earned more than eight yuan a month. A few days ago, I was looking at a job advertisement on a website for a state-owned enterprise and saw a salary ranging from one yuan to 1,000 yuan. I think 1,000 yuan is the maximum, and the salary in a state-owned enterprise is 1,000 yuan. This costs us so much money. Is it necessary to send our children to college? I think to describe the employment situation this year as severe is really a compliment, because it's really crazy, because now it feels to me that we have spent more than ten years working hard, but in the end, what we got was a ticket for the sinking Titanic. Everyone is cheering for the newcomers who just got on board, celebrating their new life, and then we, the group of people who are about to graduate and sitting at the bow, have hit an iceberg and are about to drown. It seems that no one cares at all. I don't know if you have seen the one that is very popular on the internet recently. Since I did something, I almost forgot what I did before. So far, I have seen a Peking University graduate delivering food. Where else can we workers go? The factories in Hangzhou are saturated. Jiangsu is saturated. Shanghai is saturated. Wuhan is not doing well. The four major coastal cities are all in trouble. Where should we workers go? What should we do? You can see that it's windy outside now. I'm outside now, and it's very windy. I just came over from the east side of the bridge. Many people brought quilts from home and slept under the bridge wrapped in quilts. It's hard to find a job outside, but the expenses are very high. Many people brought thousands of yuan to look for work, but in the end, they were penniless and had to live on the streets. Some people are even just looking for a holiday. Work hard every day you can. There is no other way to make a living. Many people are burdened with mortgages, house loans, household expenses, and all kinds of other things. This is an overpass. The overpass at the east station of Shenzhen. See that homeless guy? These people are carrying luggage, both men and women. Men and women. You see, they all come here. This is from Shenzhen. You can see these scenes. There are also elderly people. They look like artists. Don't disturb them. There are also musicians. Their clothes are placed here. In Wollongong District, I stood on the overpass next to the Sanhei Talent Market and looked down. I saw odd job workers lying on the ground. They couldn't even afford a bed for 15 yuan a night, so they could only lie down on the stairs. This is Shenzhen. Foshan is now a living specimen of real estate. Industries like tiles, windows, water, electricity, furniture, and home appliances, which once supported half of Foshan, are all the darlings of real estate. Then how about the Meili air conditioners in Shundebeijiao? Are Nanhaidali's windows and aluminum materials good? Among every 10 rice barrels in China, 7 batches are fired in Foshan. Now if the real estate industry sneezes, Foshan will go straight to the ICU. At 3 o'clock in the morning, I want to show you how many people are sleeping under bridges in Shanghai. This is a bridge tunnel, an elevated bridge tunnel. I... I'll take you to see it. What about us? The noise is a little quieter. They should have fallen asleep. I don't know who the couple is, or whose son they are. There are 3 of them here. What about here? The 4th one, and here is the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th one. This one doesn't even have a tent. So many delivery men don't even have a tent. There is another one in the 12th one. I might have to sleep in the park in the next 2 days. I don't have a job now. I worked in a factory for a few days a few days ago, and when I came out, my money was almost spent. Maybe in a couple of days I'll plan to find a park and sleep there. I really didn't expect that I would become so awesome when I first came to Shenzhen. Why, at this age, I really feel so useless. I don't even have a decent job, and I have to sleep in the park. Am I useless? Am I almost ruined? Can you tell me? How many people are still like me? Today, uncertainty hangs over every industry in China. This is not a problem for any one individual, but a common plight for ordinary people living on the mainland. No matter whether you are working in a private enterprise or a public institution, unemployment is a 100% possibility. Think about it. You are in your 20s or 30s now, and there are still 30 to 40 years before retirement at the age of 60. With such a long time ahead, how can you guarantee the stability of your job? Even your own job is not guaranteed, your company may not survive, and your industry may not last long, let alone us as individuals. The development of DeepSeek's artificial intelligence will accelerate the updating and iteration of various industries. Various professional skills will be eliminated one after another. Nothing is constant. And coupled with the current bad economic environment, business performance is getting worse and worse. All companies are reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and there are fewer and fewer jobs. This also means a very cruel fact, that once 90% of people lose their jobs, it is likely that they will find it difficult to get another one. Many middle-aged people have elderly parents and young children to take care of. If they have no income for a long time, facing huge pressure to earn money, many people's marriages will encounter serious problems. The situation is so cruel now, so even if you still have a job, you are lucky. But this group of people must prepare for future changes in advance. If you can avoid consuming, then don't consume. If you can consume less, then consume less. No one knows how long this employment and economic situation will last. In addition, with the bankruptcy of a large number of domestic enterprises and the withdrawal of foreign capital, scenes of depression can be seen everywhere in China. Behind me, in a shopping mall covering an area of more than 10,000 square meters, all the restaurants have closed down. Can you believe it? This was once the largest shopping mall in Chengdi County, but now it has ended up like this. During the Spring Festival last year, Brother Bin came to this mall and took over the equipment of a bankrupt restaurant. At that time, many businesses were still operating, but now, in a mall of tens of thousands of square meters, only two businesses remain open. The sales volume once reached 80 million in just one day after opening, but this legend can no longer be seen. Miserable! Look, 50 million is gone! Look at this street again, 50 million is gone! You see, the whole place is empty. There are so many dead units they don't even bother to open the elevators. Hundreds of billions of yuan have all been wasted. This is the place where wealthy people in Shenzhen once fought to buy property. It was very lively here 10 years ago, with crowds everywhere. I am standing here, in the center of an intersection. I remember the opening price was 200,000 to 300,000 yuan per square meter. Can you imagine that? What does that mean? Now the place is totally empty, with no one here.