Director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and former professor at Oxford, Xiang Biao is one of the most eminent specialists on China. He is particularly interested in youth, whose recent tendency to withdraw into oneself he has highlighted in his work. The context of high unemployment among this age group is of particular concern to the authorities, as the annual session of Parliament began this Tuesday, March 5, a major event in Chinese political life.
L’Express: How are young Chinese affected by their country’s economic slowdown?
Xiang Biao: It affects them much more significantly than older people, who have benefited from the rapid growth of the last forty years and have savings and real estate. Today’s young graduates grew up with high expectations for their future. The gap with reality is very difficult for them to live with. There are fewer jobs, fewer career opportunities. And for those who find work, conditions are tougher, because companies are now competing fiercely, as in IT.
There are of course differences between social groups. Those who grew up in big cities, and dreamed of traveling and having high-paying jobs in Beijing and Shanghai, must give it up. But their parents have the means to house them and help them: they can therefore afford to refuse low-skilled jobs, such as delivery drivers. Unlike people in the countryside and small towns. But it is above all the common points that strike me. For everyone, the question of material subsistence does not arise: the strongest impact of the economic slowdown is psychological. Young people are much more pessimistic than before, regardless of their socio-economic situation. This explains spectacular changes in behavior, such as the decline in the number of marriages, romantic relationships, births, home purchases – which only accentuate economic difficulties.
How does this crisis change their vision of the future?
Being less optimistic forces them to think more about the meaning of their life. They analyze it, and say to themselves that a lot of things are wrong. Ten or twenty years ago, the Chinese thought little about their present condition, thinking that it would necessarily improve. If you weren’t satisfied, you just had to change jobs: it’s more complicated today.
Faced with melancholy feelings, young people are now asking themselves philosophical questions. Am I happy every day? What does friendship mean? What relationship should I have with my parents? What is true love? What hobby should I start? Does my work give me satisfaction?
What role did the Covid crisis play in this awareness?
An extremely important role. During this period, young people realized that they had no freedom. They were monitored and asked to obey orders, without taking their feelings or opinions into account. However, a number of absurd measures have been implemented. Sometimes, it was enough for just one person to have been in contact with a positive case for the entire building to be shipped to a quarantine center in the middle of the night. Young people have had a particularly hard time being denied the right to ask legitimate questions. They concluded that their dignity was not respected, and that their lives had no meaning.
Did the real estate crisis also have an influence?
The real estate bubble has been the driving force of the Chinese economy over the past forty years. Many became rich by buying and reselling apartments. But today, this logic is broken: everything people believed in is called into question. The real estate crisis also has a huge impact on lifestyles. In the past, the prospect of acquiring an apartment encouraged people to work hard to earn money. Homeownership was also associated with plans to marry and have children.
Now, young people think that it makes no sense to buy an apartment, since its value will fall, preventing any capital gain on resale. They prefer to stay with their parents. Freed from the crushing pressure of repaying loans, some even decide to “lie still” – a practice called “tang ping”.
Is this trend massive?
The desire to retire from competition is very common among young people. This does not necessarily mean that they refuse to work – only a small minority chooses to completely remove themselves from traditional economic life. Instead, they decide to be less involved, just do basic work (eight hours a day instead of twelve), and no longer accept overtime. They are looking to engage in different ways: by being more creative, by focusing on work-life balance. Without necessarily aiming for either career or money.
What impact will these changes in mentality have on the development of the country?
Their approach is very different from the “Chinese dream” proposed by President Xi Jinping. This “Chinese dream” not only concerns the glorious status that China must achieve in the world, but it also promises a better life: more prosperity and technology. But as this perspective recedes, people turn away from this dream. They consider that accumulating all this military and economic power will not give meaning to their existence.
However, there is no doubt that China will become the world’s largest economy and a major technological, political and cultural power. This is inevitable due to the size of the population. The problem is that Chinese leaders present the country’s rise as if it were a moral project – revenge on the West, the superiority of Chinese civilization… But young people are less interested in nationalist remarks aggressive forces held by the “fighting wolves” of Chinese diplomacy, such as the ambassador to France, Lu Shaye. Rather than being obsessed with the desire to replace the United States, China should think more about the responses to the ecological crisis and the aging of its population. In my opinion, young people will push their country in this direction. This is rather good news for the country.
Could young people seek to have more influence on political choices?
In the context of Chinese social control, they do not make clear demands, but rather explore new lifestyles. How might this change Chinese policy? The government will have to respond in some way to these changes in behavior. The most critical example is the decline in the birth rate, and the worrying aging of the population. At some point, the government will have to ask itself if it wants to devote so much money to the construction of large infrastructures (highways, bridges, etc.), to heavy industry and to the army; or if he wants to train more healthcare workers. But to develop heavy industry, the military sector, you need a very centralized power structure. But if you pay more attention to people’s daily lives, there needs to be more decentralization.
In the next ten years, I do not expect protest movements in Chinese society, because basic needs continue to be provided. But as they pay more attention to their personal situation, young people will increasingly demand a say in what affects their daily lives: their neighborhood, their children’s school, their leisure activities. that they can practice. In my opinion, the evolution towards more democracy will begin like this. Secondly, the political system could change but, to be honest, I have no idea how long that will take…
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