170 Million Chinese Suffer from Sleep Apnea, Too Many Young People Pass Away from Strokes

According to Chinese media, over 170 million people in China suffer from sleep apnea, and more than 60 million have moderate to severe cases. Experts warn, severe sleep apnea can cause sudden death. The condition has now entered the spotlight after several celebrities admitted they must sleep with breathing machines every night, including actor Huang Lei, Their confessions shocked the internet, revealing just how deadly this silent nighttime killer can be. Doctors explain that sleep apnea means your airway repeatedly collapses during sleep, cutting off your breathing, sometimes for more than 10 seconds each time. Some patients stop breathing 30 times in just one night, leading to oxygen deprivation, heart strain, and memory loss. Over time, it can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and even death during sleep. When footage surfaced of Huang Lei sleeping with a ventilator, the topic, Huang Lei sleeping with a ventilator, immediately trended online. He revealed that he suffers from severe snoring and nighttime apnea, and now must rely on the machine to keep him alive at night. Doctors confirmed his case had already reached a dangerous level. Even China's Olympic hero Yang Wei shared that he once stopped breathing for up to six minutes while sleeping, calling it the scariest moment of his life. Actress Chen Xiaowen said she stopped breathing 25 times an hour, each pause lasting more than 50 seconds, forcing her to undergo surgery. Official media like CCTV and the Lancet Respiratory Journal also reported shocking data. As many as 176 million Chinese between 30 and 69 suffer from snoring and varying degrees of sleep apnea. It's no longer just a sleep issue, it's a national health crisis. On social media, countless people have begun to share their fears. Huang Lei using a CPAP machine scared me. I thought snoring meant good sleep, but it could mean death. My father died from sleep apnea. I wake up gasping for air, afraid I won't wake up one day. Some netizens have speculated about possible causes, from overwork to health complications, as reports of sudden deaths among young people continue to rise. According to mainland media, 43% of sudden deaths in China each year now occur among the young. A viral Douyin blogger grimly put it, in crematoriums today, it's not the elderly, it's people born in the 1980s and 1990s. Those who stay up late, work overtime and suddenly never wake up. Sudden deaths aren't news anymore, they happen every night. One simple warning echoes across China. Don't ignore your snoring. It could be the sound of your body asking for help. China's housing market is collapsing. And this time, it's different. China's property bubble is bursting, and even top economists say it may never recover. A recent viral video of Zhu Ming, former deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, has reignited public debate. In a blunt interview, Zhu warned that Chinese housing prices will not rise again. He backed this up with hard data. Urbanization has hit 66%, average housing area has reached 43 square meters per person, and the population is rapidly aging. With millions fewer young buyers, he said, the real estate market has become nothing more than Economist Xu Chenggang also painted a grim picture, saying China is trapped in deflation, weak domestic demand, and massive overcapacity, while foreign capital is fleeing at record speed. Housing prices have fallen for 41 straight months. According to September data, home prices have fallen in every major city. Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen all dropped around 0.5%, while Guangzhou plunged nearly 1%, even after lifting buying restrictions. Zhu Ming warned, this is no short-term correction. This is a 41-month decline, more than three years without recovery. Across the nation, the second-hand housing market is frozen. Buyers are silent, sellers are desperate, and even state-owned companies are offloading their real estate assets. Why the rebound will never come Zhu outlined four key reasons why home prices can't rise again. Urbanization has peaked. There's little room left to grow. Housing space per person already exceeds Europe's. China's population is aging fast, with 23.8% now over 60. Young buyers are drowning in debt and can't afford more homes. The real estate game has shifted from investment to survival. Speculation is gone, and households prefer saving over risk. Older generations keep their money in the bank, while younger ones are burdened by loans and low incomes. Either stupid or evil – Zhu's harsh words for real estate promoters Zhu criticized influencers who still claim prices will rebound, calling them either stupid or evil. He warned that China doesn't lack capital or technology. It lacks people. Fewer workers and consumers mean lower demand, rising deflation, and a stalled economic cycle. The hidden debt Time bomb Zhu also pointed out that the crisis runs deeper than real estate. Wealth and debt are dangerously imbalanced. The elderly hold most of the savings, while the young carry most of the debt. On paper, bank deposits look high, but behind that lies a generation trapped by mortgages and shrinking incomes. Meanwhile, developers' debt ratios exceed 90%, far above global standards. Banks hesitate to bail them out, fearing losses without government guarantees. Local governments are also drowning in debt. Their situation now mirrors Europe's 2014 debt crisis, with the central government like Germany and local ones like Greece. As hidden debts surface, household and government leverage will skyrocket. Zhu warned that traditional monetary and fiscal policies have lost power, and only deep structural reforms can prevent long-term stagnation. His final warning was chilling. If China doesn't fix its demographic problem, every reform will fail. Japan already proved this in the 1990s. Population decline means economic decline. China's economic reality When debt becomes a tax on the people Domestic debt is a form of tax, says Zhu Ming, former deputy governor of the People's Bank of China. He quoted a chilling phrase, domestic debt is not a problem, until the people disappear. Zhu explained that debt only works when the population is large enough to sustain it. Unlike Western countries that rely on immigration, China depends on childbirth. But after four decades of population dividends, that advantage has now turned into a burden. In the next 20 to 30 years, Zhu warns, China will have too much capital and technology, but not enough people. Interest rates will stay extremely low, and the shortage of labor will completely reshape the country's growth model, debt structure, and investment logic. He compared the Chinese economy to a closed loop, where households bear the hidden taxes of all three sectors. Businesses profit from price gaps, governments rely on land finance, and banks profit from interest margins. If the household sector collapses, Zhu warned, the entire domestic cycle will break down. After the 1990s, Japan shifted its capital overseas and relied on welfare to balance its economy. But without bold reforms, China may find that same path impossible to follow. Deflation and Institutional Crisis Economist Xu Chenggang described China's economy as suffering from both structural and institutional paralysis. Producer prices fell by 2.2 percent in 2024, marking two straight years of deflation. Consumption and investment are falling as people save more out of fear, not confidence. He noted that one-third of industrial enterprises are losing money, the worst level in 20 years, and the problem has only deepened since 2013. Xu warned that an economy without rule of law cannot thrive. While the Constitution calls the National People's Congress the highest power, in reality, the party controls all branches—legislation, law enforcement, and judiciary. Xu argued that such concentration of power makes corruption inevitable, and corruption, in turn, kills economic growth. Economic reform alone can't fix political decay, he said. Without property rights and human rights protection, capital flees, and foreign investors disappear. Xu cited research by a 2024 Nobel Prize-winning economist, showing that countries with democratic systems have GDPs 10 percent higher on average. His conclusion? Institutions matter more than stimulus. He compared China's structure to Nazi Germany's, where rapid growth masked deep systemic flaws. In China, anti-corruption drives may punish individuals, but they can't cure the root cause—excessive concentration of power. The New Reality of China's Housing Market Zhu Ming identified ten signs showing the real estate market has reached its peak. 1. Population decline. 1.4 billion is the ceiling. 2. Urbanization at 65 percent, with little room to grow. 3. Aging accelerating. Over 30 percent will be elderly by 2035. 4. New housing inventory. 600 million square meters unsold, with 2 billion vacant units. 5. Average housing space per person hitting 50 square meters. 6. Construction volumes surpassing half the world's total. Already peaked. 7. Land and housing prices quadrupled in 20 years. Bubble burst. 8. Urban renewal ending. 9. Public facilities in oversupply. 10. Developer debt ratios above 90 percent, reaching the limit. To survive, Zhu urged developers to cut debt to 40-50 percent. Build based on market demand, not speculation. Focus on core business instead of expansion. Shrink the number of developers from 90,000 to just 10,000. Mix residential and commercial projects. Issue bonds for stability. He added that the government must guide a soft landing, not overregulate. Real estate makes up 5 to 10 percent of China's GDP, influencing jobs, finance, and the supply chain. Zhu called for a policy of large-scale stability with small-scale growth. He predicted that housing prices will rise slower than GDP, balancing depreciation over time. After the pain, he said, a healthy cycle will return. Homes for living, not speculation.