The wealthiest cities are falling – inside China's economic unraveling

Hello everyone. Welcome to Lays Road Talk. All right, I hope everyone had a great start of the week. So far so good. I saw that we are reunited with uh Le's favorite troll. He's back. Anyways, um [snorts] I saw the exchanges. Well, anyways, well, let's get started. I've talked about China's economy before in a very quantitative way, analyzing financial data, charts, and numbers. But today, I want to shift perspectives. I want to speak from people's experiences on the ground. I want to share with you real stories, uh, stories that give you a much clearer reality check on what's happening inside China's economy right now. And the best places to fill that pause are Shanghai and Shenzhen. Shanghai has been the crossroads of east and west for over a century. Uh it's a global facing financial hub with deep history and influence. It's the wealthiest city in China. Shenzhen on the other hand represents China's modern economic engine, high-tech manufacturing, innovation, and it's the symbol of China's rise over the last four decades. So, these two cities are um what we're going to focus on tonight because they're the most open, the most international, and the most economically robust in in the entire country. Um, in my opinion, in a downturn, they are the last regional powerhouses that would fall. Um, so let's look at what's been happening in Shanghai and Shenzhen recently. Uh, because once you understand the cracks appearing in these two strongholds, you can see the reality of China's overall economic situation much more clearly. So now let's begin with Shanghai. Now, over the past few days, many mothers in Shanghai have gone online to complain that they received text messages or written notices from the local medical insurance agency which uh which is run by the government. It's a government agency. Let me actually show you the the and these agencies are demanding that these mothers who received um second child or multiple child subsidy I don't know what you call that second child. Yeah, second child or third child subsidy. So basically the government, the local government is demanding that they return the so-called overpaid maternity benefits for their second, third or fourth child. Um now these some of these mothers gave birth as early as 20 2020 and now uh and are now being told to pay the money back. The amounts range from a few thousand yuan to several tens of thousands. So one mother was told that she must return 55,000 yen, which is about 7,500 US. Panicked, she cried. She said, "Why don't you just take all my income while you're at it?" So the black the backlash was huge. Chinese reporters um got on the case and they called the government hotlines and the official explanation is absurd. Um they say that the reason they're asking for the refund from the individual I mean you don't have individual giving government a refund only in China right? So, they said that the reason they're asking for a refund or they're taking the money back is that maternity benefits were calculated based on the average wage at the mother's workplace. Now, that they say the actual average wage was lower, so they must recover the overpayment. Um, and people pushed back. The money has already been spent on baby formula and diapers. How do you expect us to return it? So, the reality is obvious. The local government is broke. A few years ago, to encourage couples to have more children, local governments issued second child subsidies. Subsidies. I mean, it doesn't have to be second child. It could be third, fourth, right? Any I mean, the more the the marrier. Then on January 1st this year, the central government launched a new nationwide um it's called child care allowance for all children under age three. So cashstrapped local governments including Shanghai saw an opportunity to save money. So they simply stopped issuing their own subsidies claiming the local and central programs uh were being merged. So netizens in all reported the same pattern. Some places even demanded parents return previously issued subsidies and Shanghai is one such place. Um now instead of receiving both local and central support, families now receive only the central allowance. Um so people are upset and they feel that they've been cheated by the government. Uh most people agree that local governments have run out of money and they're burning the bridge after crossing the river. Now that might be expected in poorer regions, but when Shanghai, China's richest city, starts clawing back baby money that parents already had already spent on on on children. It signals something seriously wrong inside the Shanghai government. So now let's talk about the state of local governments. It's a system under strain. What's happening behind the scenes? Um last month a financial off a finance official from a wealthy southern province, let's just call him Yangqing because it's a pseudo name. He didn't give his real name. He gave a rare interview with the Chinese edition of the Epic Times and his account provides one of the clearest views yet into China's local fiscal crisis. So Young says the root issue is structural. Beijing takes too much. The localities pay too much. It's the perpetual struggle between local and central government governments. So the central and local governments now share tax revenues 50/50 but local governments sh shoulder most of the expenses. the result local fiscal crisis are now widespread and in his region um and it's a it's a wealthy region he didn't give the name he said since July many spending items under the three guarantees meaning the guarantees of salaries basic operations and essential public services have been suspended so spending items under the three basic services that local governments provide have been suspended and these include garbage collection, government vehicle budgets, and police equipment procurement. Why? Well, there's simply no money. When essential public services stop, it's a sign of government paralysis. Civil servant pay cuts are also happening nationwide. And in Young's locality, salaries have been cut three times since 2022 totaling around 25%. And so Mr. Young believes the crisis became undeniable during zero COVID era. Lockdowns damaged the economy, but the deeper cause is the CCP system itself. And he said one of the major reason or or or the major factor factors of the economic crisis is systemic corruption. He described disruption description he described corruption levels that people outside China cannot comprehend. So for example um a township let me just get rid of these. I think these are don't mean anything for the time being. So a township builds a science innovation center and accumulated 30 billion yan in debt as a result of that building that center right science innovation center. But the actual construction cost was only 1 billion. The remaining 29 billion went into officials pockets. And now every township builds such a center not for innovation but to inflate real estate projects and for raising their own milk cow. So Mr. on says many um technocrat officials like himself deeply worry about their future after years inside the bureaucracy. They've lost skills [clears throat] needed for normal jobs. And if they suddenly lose their posts, they don't know how to survive. College graduates can't find work. Middle-aged officials have even fewer options. Many civil servants are secretly planning exit routes, including leaving the country. Meanwhile, political control, he said, has tightened dramatically. Talking about the economy or criticizing Xiinping, even using coded language can lead to consequences. Um and he said every government unit now has internal online monitors uh the in-house 50 C army. So colleagues watch each other and any sign of dissent is immediately reported uh to the party chief. And this bring us to the next pressure point real estate. because local government finances are deeply uh connected to real estate and Shanghai again is at the center of the story. Now Shanghai we know China's real estate prices have been falling across the country and Shanghai is no exception. Now the government wants to boost confidence not by fixing the fundamentals but by silencing pessimist um pessimistic view or outlook. So in March the Shanghai cyberspace administration ordered platforms to delete more than 900 posts that it called illegal misleading about the housing market. and they summoned content creators for questioning and they banned 98 real estate accounts. The official reason talking down the market. Those banned were forced to promise that they would strengthen content review. And this is Shanghai, China's wealthiest, most international city, silencing people for saying the property market is falling. And that's not enough. Then on November 14th, just this this past week, Shanghai escalated the campaign, they launched a city-wide purge of real estate information. Their two targets, one, accounts saying uh Shanghai housing prices are about to crash are are removed. And two, they also target fake lowpric listings. So, I mean, how do you define fake low price listings? So, if someone is trying to sell their property at lower price and the government think it's too low, they could label you as um label your property as having fake low prices. So, since the beginning of the year, now listen to this, Shanghai authorities have removed 800,000 pieces of harmful content related to real estate, shut down 670,000 violating accounts, you know, related, you know, related to real estate. They blocked 5,000 live stream rooms and some influencers were even interrogated. Now, surprisingly, not everyone is upset. You would think that people are upset. No, people are not. Many homeowners cheered the crackdown because their wealth is in their property and they don't want the price of their property to fall. So they want the government to use draconian administrative power to protect housing prices. Even if it means arresting people who tell the truth, they don't care. And I just want to tell you this is Shanghai today. Okay? And if the housing market is cracking, what about China's transportation hubs? Because those are supposed to be the last to fall. But I'm telling you, no, they're not. They're related. So, let me tell you, Shanghai Pon Pudon Airport. Um, let me let me show this to you. Where's the Pudon airport? Oh, yeah. Here's the here's the Yeah. Oh, here's the Pudon airport. Um, a few months ago there was a Chinese media reported that the the Pudong airport in Shanghai, which is one of the busiest airports in China, is laying off 8,000 employees. And this was shocking because Pudong was once called the gateway to China. It's a major domestic and international hub. But since COVID, the airport has lost traffic and its valuation. It's listed on Shanghai's uh Shanghai Stock Exchange, but its valuation fell from 300 billion yan to 80 billion yuan, a 70% collapse over the past couple of years. And the airport employs roughly 22,000 people. And if 8,000 employees are laid off, that's a third of its workforce. Now, think about it. When the busiest airport in China's most important economic center cuts onethird of its staff, you know, China's economic engine has stalled. Now, let me give you the flight statistics. So in 2019 before COVID uh the airport saw 700,000 international flights. In 2022 it dropped 90% um and had only 70,000 flights. And in terms of international passengers, it fell from 38 million in 2019 to under 3 million in 2022. That's also down 90%. So now let's talk about the recovery, right? Because 2022 was really the year the [clears throat] last year of zero COVID. In 2023, uh the airport in terms of its traffic, it it recovered uh it reached 45% of the 2019 levels and in January 2025, it reached 52% of 2019. So it was only this past January was um at um was was at half of the volume of the traffic of the precoid era. And then in March, Beijing implemented the 144hour visafree transit policy for 30 countries including um the EU and Asian countries and that clearly helped. So in June it uh the it reached 65% of 2019 levels. Now here that's far from enough. The airport is losing money. Um it needs to be at least 80% recovery by the end of this year or its finances will remain in serious trouble. Now with the way geopolitics is developing, I doubt China China's inbound international traffic will grow substantially in in the last quarter to reach 80%. I seriously doubt it. So, so that's you know I I think the airport is is um having some serious issues. [snorts] Now, the decline doesn't stop at airports because the same financial pressures are now spreading into another pillar of urban life, the subway systems. Um, China's metro systems is a bubble built on real estate. So, Shanghai's metro has begun has begun layoffs just like the airport. The first affected workers are in their 40s and 50s. Um they are Yeah, this is the airport. This is Shenzhen. Sorry. Yeah, let me these are too small for you to see. Anyways, that's okay. Um so let me give you the numbers. So, the Shanghai subway system or metro system is laying off 2,000 employees, older staff or or senior staff whose average monthly salary is between 8,000 to 15,000 yan. That's two to three times the 4,000 starting salary for new college grads. So by laying off 2,000 senior employees, Shanghai Metro saves 100 million UN per year. Um so the company blames operating losses. Um and they plan to cut costs further and wants to shift toward AI automation. That means more layoffs are on the horizons. Okay, so that's Shanghai. Let's now move to Shenzhen, China's other economic engine. So, Shenzhen Metro Group, I have a picture. Uh, once China's most profitable metro operator, posted its first loss in 10 years. And in 2024, it recorded a 33.4 billion UN loss. To put that in perspective, between 2019 and 2023, it earned 27.3 billion yuan in total net profit. And in 2024 alone, it lost more than five years profit combined. Now, here's here's what's strange because passenger numbers wasn't the problem. Um, they had 3.1 billion trips last year. uh and revenue nearly and re revenue went up 26.7%. Uh I think that's probably because they hiked the fee. So the problem is its real estate exposure especially to uh the company called Vancur. Now, Shenzhen Metro invested 66 billion yen in in Vancoui Vancou in 2017, becoming its largest shareholder. It still holds 27% of the company today. But as the housing downturn deepens, Vanker fell into a severe debt crisis, losing 50 billion yen last year. So to keep wanker alive, Shenzhen Metro officially injected 10.3 billion yen this year. That's officially. Unofficially, people estimate that they injected funds into the falling real estate giant eight times totaling 26 billion yuan between January and September. Um so total investment since 2017 has has been approaching a 100 billion UN uh because Vancou accounts for over 10% of the metro the the metro company's assets um Shenzhen Metro is trapped and it cannot stop supporting Wanko but it doesn't have the money to support them. Um and and Vancou's recovery is is impossible because in the first half of this year it lost 12 billion yan and sales fell 50%. Now Shenzhen isn't alone in this problem. China's metros are classic examples of wasteful infrastructure built not for transportation needs but to fuel real estate speculation. So take Guangong for an example. Um the city has a population of 10 million. Yet one of its metro line, metro line number three bypassed the 200,000 resident uh RU area which is a highly populated it's a um it's a area with dense population. So it bypassed that area and instead served distant suburbs full of new housing projects. You wonder why, right? So the result is that low factor is under 10%. These subway lines are empty. Um and so they require huge fiscal subsidies. Um and they lost 100 million yan for two consecutive years. That's for Metro Company or Chongqing. It's the same problem. It's metro mileage grew from 13 kilometer in 2005. Okay, 13 kilometers to nearly 500 kilometers in 2024. So in less than 20 years, its metro mileage grew nearly 40 times. Could you imagine that? and many lines are severely underused, but maintenance costs remain high now putting financial strains on the local government. So, this is a widespread problem. Um, because China overbuild its metro networks and they're now facing serious consequences. They don't have too many options. They want they could raise fairs se severely uh making the rides very expensive or they could they could shut down or dismantle lines like Juhai did. Juhai shut down uh one of its uh its three billion yen tram system or they could do extreme cost cutting like uh like where they do the lights off operations, right? they just turn off the lights when the train isn't running. So, this isn't just a transportation problem. It reflects China's warped development model of the past four decades. Um, it's a growth model driven by debt, real estate, and GDP and and corruption. Um so when both public transport and real estate break the financial pressure ultimately lands on ordinary families. Now when household when households income is strained what happens? Well many women are forced into lowpaying survival jobs. Um, so when when the books for public transport stop balancing, when the books for real estate collapse even faster, um, here's what pe households do. More women enter, you know, started doing those lowpaying jobs. So, female, okay, let me give you some numbers. Female delivery riders grew from half million in 2022 to 700,000 in 2024. It's a 35% jump in two years. And in mid 2025, 14 million total riders nationwide um or or of the 14 million total riders nationwide, 24% are women. And this number was was under 5% precoid pre2020. So in five years uh female riders grew from under 5% to now uh approaching 25% a quarter. and and that's and that's for delivery for delivery riders and for ride um right share driver or like Uber China's equivalent of Uber drivers female drivers rose from 600,000 to 1 million in one year up 75%. And but this isn't about women becoming more independent. It's about families losing cash flow. So, there's some heartbreaking stories I want to share with you. Here's a young woman, a college woman who's a sophomore. Um, actually, oh, here's Oh. Oh, I think No, no. This is a mother delivering food. um only only to find that her ebike uh stolen and she collapsed in tears. And then there's a a young woman who's a college sophomore delivering food. She ran three kilometers. Um she delivered her food but the but the because of her lack of experience the customer complained that she spilled soup a soup and then she had to run back three kilometers uh to get the food replaced and she was crying or all her way um because the customer threatened a complaint. And um and then you have uh here's a mother doing delivery with her uh child diagnosed with cancer. And then you have you have couples you have pregnant mother pregnant women delivering food. Yeah. And you also have young women driving right share um Uber late at night. So it's very sad but the state media proudly claims that 700 female couriers gain economic independence. Um now of these women carriers uh se 80% are married 90% of them have children 70% uh have minor children um and 60% of them earn 500 earn less than 5,000 un a month. Uh so that tells you most of these women doing these dangerous delivery jobs uh these you know not only dangerous but they're physically challenging. So most of them are 90% 80% are married 90% have children. So that means you have 10% are single mother. Um so most of them are mothers trying to make extra money to to raise their children. And it's very sad. Um, so and when you connect all of this, the collapsing housing market, the underwater metro systems, the falling airport traffic, the shrinking budgets in Shanghai, you start to see the whole chain. Subways rely on real estate. Real estate relies on land sales. Land sales rely on debt. Debt relies on growth. And growth relies on people's confidence, investment, jobs, and consumption. And when when one link in that chain breaks, every other link begins to crack. So, uh, China's economic slowdown is not one story. It's an entire system unwinding. So, um, it's not that people have slowed down, it's that the system has stopped functioning. And it's not that you are not working hard or it's not that people are not working hard. It's that the economic model doesn't offer any return. Life didn't suddenly become difficult. It's the narrative that once promised everything has been a lie. So people will not collapse all at once, but they are waking up to see this. All right. So, that's what I have for you. Um, I hope this is helpful for you to understand. I've been gathering these information for the past couple of months because I really want to give you uh a reality check on what's really happening economically inside China. And it's difficult to do but I sifted through many stories and I think these trying to you know showing you the uh what's really happening in Shanghai and Shenzhen in the most affluent cities of China I think is the most telling. All right. Now I want to do some Q&A but I have prepared questions for you because these are all over the news today. [snorts] Let me tell you uh number one first question first things first. You know, Xiinping's uh most loyal official, Tai Chi, his chief of staff, has been missing for the past 11 days. And uh ever since he showed up with Xi Jinping at the uh com commissioning of the Fujian carrier in Hainan, he has not been seen. Uh and people took notice. Actually, he was last seen with Xiinping at the Yen Memorial Hall together on November the I believe it's the 8th. Yeah, it was the 8th. So, what happened next was bizarre. That very next day, Xiinping attended the opening ceremony of the 15th National Games in Guangjo and Taii suddenly disappeared. Uh remember this picture I showed you, right? This this was a picture that Xiinping took with the sports delegation or sports organizations um before the game and so Tai Chi wasn't there. Uh and he also missed the opening ceremony and and this is very very unusual because he had already traveled with Xiinping to Guangong. Yeah. he still disappeared before you know before the the the opening ceremony. So that makes the situation very strange given this abrupt midtrip cutoff. Many people view Tai's absence as highly irregular and not only that um he has missed two other events. One was the November 12th uh meeting with the king of Spain uh for a state visit. Tai Chi who plays the role of she's chief of staff should have been present but he was absent and then on the 14th Xiinping met with the king of Thailand. Taii was missing again. So there have been wide rumors that he was detained while while in uh Guang Jo by Jang Ya and Jang Janga tooki away or detained Taii I should say took him away in front of Xiinping in the name of investigating espionage activities. Um the that compromised military intelligence and John claimed that he needs to take Thai away for three month investigation and Xiinping allegedly didn't stop Jang from taking Thai away. So, everyone in the Chinese dissident community is waiting to see when Tai Chi would reappear because that's telling if Taii did disappear. I mean, if I mean, they could they could put him back for a show for a day and then take him away again, you know, just to I I I think that Tai may be under investigation, but they may put him back for a public event just to dispel the rumors that Tai is is um in trouble. Um so, so that's that. And also I want to uh quickly comment on the talk between Japan and China today. I don't know if you know that this picture went viral today. Did you guys know? So apparently um the uh a Japanese diplomat I think uh a Japanese official in charge of East Asian affair in the foreign ministry flew to Beijing to met with his counterpart in the Chinese foreign ministry and the meeting didn't look like it went well. This was the picture at the end of the meeting and the Chinese official was very rude and the video I mean if you watch the video he he talked he basically put on an act. He he I mean this was on purpose right he um he put his hands behind him um during the whole time that he walked the Japanese diplomat out. It was the whole time. It looked so rude. And so people say, "Where did he learn this?" It was from this picture. This was what happened when China's premier Li Chang visited North Korea. Um, and here's Kim Jong- putting his hands behind him when Li Chang bit bid him farewell. and the J and the the the pictures went viral um in both Chinese and Japanese social media. I mean the Chinese cheered um but the Japanese posted this. This was Xiaoing visiting Japan in 1978 and here he was bowing to the J Japanese flag. So um yeah. So this went viral. So I just want to quickly share with you that I thought it's very very interesting. Um I think Beijing is stuck because the meeting um Chinese made one Chinese made one demand which is uh to retra the Chinese asked the Japanese PM to retract her statement on that you know when something happens to Taiwan it's the same as something has happened to Japan. um that's what the Chinese wants. But the Japanese official made four points known to the Chinese and that's the purpose of his trip. And this is this is coming from the Japanese foreign ministry. So point number one, Japanese point number one is that they expressed they expressed their um disappointment or whatever they want they protested the the council general's comment the beheading comment um the the the Chinese council general in Osaka. So they want the Chinese foreign ministry to take appropriate action um about that diplomat. So this is um this is extremely inappropriate and the Japanese demanded the Chinese to do something about it. And point number two is they also um reminded the Chinese that Japanese um safe Chinese safety in Japan is very has no problem and they and they uh you the Chinese issued a travel warning um to its citizens about traveling in Japan. As a result, there are half million cancellation um uh air travel cancellations to Japan. I think the people that they're going to hurt is Chinese airlines. I don't think they're going to hurt Japan's economy that much, but they're going to hurt their own airlines. So uh the Japanese raised that and they said that Chinese citizens are well protected in Japan. Um but their point number three is they want the Chinese to protect the safeties of Japanese citizens living in China because there have been uh bad presidents right where the Japanese citizens were attacked and then one boy one school boy was was murdered um in in a knife attack and the last point was that they made it clear the Japanese made it clear that they're not going to retract their statement um what the PM said has always been the Japanese government's uh position over Taiwan. So the the Japanese are not budging. I mean they're not they they stick to their ground. So now what you know the question is what is the Chinese going to do? That's very interesting because there's stuck. the the Japanese are not moving away from their their position and on the other hand they demanded the Chinese to to do something about to address the problem of their council general's comments. So it's very interesting from this point on. Um all right, that's all I have for you tonight. Let's see questions, comments. Brian Cow. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Brian, for the super stickers. All right. Um, Nicole. Nicole. Um, thank you, Nicole, for addressing that. All right. So, we have this Dump or is it his name Dump? Our our favorite troll back again. [laughter and gasps] All right. Uh, he's entertaining us. [sighs] Oh. Okay, someone Dag Dagma Ranger, someone asked me about Wang Xiaoong, the minister of public security, Xiinping's right-hand man in charge of internal security. Um, disappeared immediately after the fall. Now he he has been he didn't disappear immediately after fourth plenum but he has rumor has it that he um fled but guess what no he reappeared there were rumor that he disappeared as well and some even claimed that he had fled China but the latest news today he reappeared in a CCTV news report he attended um a public security meeting. So apparently he is um he is still in Beijing. So that that's not true. But one of his um deputies died during the fourth plenum. uh one of his left-hand man in the public security apparatus or in the Beijing um security bureau died during the fourth platinum. So that's very interesting. [sighs] All right, Tom, thank you. delay. Do you think she still Do you think she still stay after will stay after 2027? I don't think so. With the way China's economy is deteriorating and the way the the political infighting, I mean, it's getting out of control. I think this entire drama with Japan is the result of this ferocious political infighting. Um, and I think it's self-destructive. It's very self, you know, I think the party elders of, you know, they felt that they had to keep Xiinping in his position so that the regime doesn't fall apart. Meanwhile, they're trying to have solutions for the next step. However, they didn't realize that keeping Xiinping in the post is also self-destructive. He is he is going to bring the regime down um as he fights for his power. So either way, there's no way out. You know, they need to realize it's time to end this regime because anyone who's trying to preserve this this regime is going to go down with it. Um and and this entire drama with Japan, I think is the result of either Xiinping trying to f fight back to hold on to his power or Xiinping's enemy trying to cause trouble for him. You know, I I think it's it's it's completely completely out of control. It doesn't make any sense because the the judging by the language the state media used in its uh coverage of um the Japanese PM in the last two days. It's it's crazy. I mean we haven't seen anything like that in the P. I mean, as much the CCP wants to use Japan, um, I mean, it's it always use stern languages when it comes to quote unquote hostile, you know, Japanese um, or Japanese politicians. It has not used the the same language it has used in the past couple of days. It's very provocative. So, it's in my opinion, it's out of control. Does not make sense. So, it's it's interesting to see how they're going to get themselves out of this trouble. Or maybe they will not. They they will own it. Whoever started this will have to own it. Okay. With the collapse of China and fleeing young professionals spread the CCP ideology or strengthen anti-communist forces in the West. Um, I see your concern. um both will happen but unfortunately let's say if 10 if a 100 people flat China um probably the majority of them cannot tell or or or less than half of them are truly clearheaded about the harm of communism. Um so so yeah you do have you do welcome some people who will you know join force with us in in this anti-communist movement but you also get the other half or more than half um who are not clear they just think their misery in China was the result of bad economy and they just want to escape that they still do not because they've been brainwashed um it takes some time for them to truly comprehend uh the real reason behind their misery in China. So you Yeah. So that is a problem. We do have a problem of this many Chinese fleeing China without understanding the harm of communism and they inevitably or inadvertently bringing their communist ideology to the west or to other parts of the world. And that is a serious concern of mine. All right. Um, okay. Let's see. All right. I'm here in Shanghai. Someone said was in Shenzhen last week. Someone said, "Why am I seeing no signs of um why am I seeing no signs of economic slowdown?" Okay. Well, you're probably the lucky few. I do have people I do have family members visiting Shanghai coming back telling me, "Well, I talked to my family uh and friends in in in Shanghai. They seem to be doing okay. But if you really talk to them, most of these people work for the government. And most of these people Yeah. or or they have money. Um they have their children are growing. They don't have to worry about raising a young family in China. They're older. They're retired and they work they work for the system or they used to work for the system and they enjoy a good life. Yeah. So, all right. Um, seek the truth. I'm hearing rumbling that Singapore is waking up to the invasion of Chinese style economy. Predatory businesses hurting local Singapore businesses, restaurants. They're better because Singapore is such a small place. Um yeah, I want to make a program because the Chinese made their money in China often through illegal means or illegal conducts and when they moved to other parts of the world they brought that behav those behavior with them. And so we've seen an upsurge of criminal activities um by the the by the Chinese and and this is in civil societies there's so many loopholes you could take advantage of to make some quick money and they're certainly doing that and this is a serious threat. I think the west need to I say this over and over again. The most pressing need is to reunite the Chinese people with their cultural heritage because right now they're a nation without without a cultural heritage. They I mean the only thing through after the cultural revolution you know traditional values and beliefs are destroyed. So the only thing they know is the communist ideology. So this is a serious um a pro a serious problem. Um there needs to be in language programs outside China for the Chinese living here so that they behave so they behave normally for the lack of a better term. Um, yeah. So, we Yeah. All right. Someone said, "China has no integrity." I wouldn't say that. What China as a as a culture or as a nation for thousands of years is um has integrity. It's the CCP that has completely destroyed it. So, you have to separate China from the CCP. And the Chinese people are the victim of the CCP system. Um if if you if you don't like the behaviors of today's Chinese then we need to end communism everywhere in the world because if we don't then our people will one day behave just like the people living in in China because they are the victims. Someone said, "Li, who teaches good manners in Chinese society? Parents, schools, friends, CCP society? No one." Well, the wealthy, the kids coming from the a coming from affluent families. I mean, the very the super the uber rich one, they send their kids to Swiss finishing schools. If you if you talk to the um uh like the etiquette schools or or schools that teach manners or finishing schools in London or Switzerland before COVID, many of their students are from China. Chinese parents have the money to send their kids um to receive the quote unquote best education, but without changing their ideology, they never learn what manner, what good manner is because it has nothing to do with um knowing how to use your silverware. The essence of etiquette is one thinking of others first. to being able to follow rules and the mainland China the CCP has um forced the Chinese to fail in those two areas. The mainland Chinese are taught if you have lived in communist China, you cannot follow rules. You're brought up breaking all the rules. And even for those people who um so if you follow CCP's rules, you follow the wrong rules, right? And if you don't follow CCP's rules, you grew up, you have the habit, you develop the habit habit of not following rules. So no matter what you do, this you have problems. And then in the CCP system, you cannot afford to think of others before you. Um, so, so I always, you know, I always laugh because I was once, um, doing etiquette training for Chinese immigrants in North America. I do programs, I do training sessions for them in North America. Actually, I if I have time, I like to do a YouTube channel in language in Chinese. And people beg me to do that. Um, and they say, "Well, all the Chinese could benefit from your program because I don't want to teach them, you know, how to use your silver." Well, that's not my point. I mean, they they could learn. I mean, there are books that tell you about that, but I want to point out, you know, the essence of etiquette. Um, but I don't have time to do that right now. But um yeah it it's very sad you know they they learn they learn all the skills but they missed the essence of etiquette. If you're always considerate of others you have good manner. If you're able to follow rules you have good manner. It's as simple as that. But the Chinese struggle in both areas. Trust me, I've seen them. All right. Okay. Well, Dlass 2008, how bad is origin washing for Chinese exports? Has the international community cracked down on goods produced in China but packaged in other countries successfully? I think it's uh I talked about that last week. I actually showed you the number the numbers showing China's exports uh China's exports to the US reduced significantly but its exports to places like Africa and Southeast Asia increased. So obviously this transit export still exists but I think it's uh on the decline because the the US government is not allowing that. Okay. Someone said lei le should teach Chinese manners. It's something on my list of things to do. Uh right now I don't have the bandwidth, but I hope one day I'll do that. Okay, that's all for tonight. I've talked a lot. I hope you enjoy the program and I will see you in two days. All right, bye bye.