Construction sites are standing still, youth unemployment is increasing, the population is aging and the communist party’s grip on the economy is tightening. China’s economic miracle has lasted 45 years, but now it is threatened by difficult problems.
Esko Varho,
Tero Nikulainen
The biggest real estate bubble in world history has burst.
In China, the economy, employment and stability have been maintained for years with immense construction projects. In recent decades, tens of thousands of kilometers of highways, hundreds of airports, a huge bullet train network and millions of apartments have been built in the country every year.
But at the same time, construction has created a huge debt crisis in China.
Now many construction sites are standing still and real estate giants are faltering.
Throughout the summer, there have been other worrying news from China. Urban youth unemployment rose to record levels in June, over 21 percent. After that, China’s statistical authorities announced that no new figures would be published for the time being. Chinese consumers’ confidence in economic development is also at a record low.
China’s rise has been based a lot on the fact that ordinary Chinese have made enormous efforts when the Chinese version of the American dream, raising one’s own family out of poverty, has been on the horizon. Today’s youth still work a lot, but no longer believe that it necessarily leads to prosperity.
Everything is fine with propaganda videos, but especially the youth are no longer excited by calls to sacrifice and “eat bitterness”, like the leader of China Xi Jinping urge.
The strained relations with the West are also harming China’s economy. In Europe and the United States, the debate to get rid of dependence on China is gaining momentum. At the same time, China’s population is aging and there is even less labor force.