Dialogue China BriefingAbout China TodayMay 15th, 2023 – Issue 131In This IssueThe articles translated here do not necessarily reflect the views of Dialogue China Briefing or Dialogue China. Lead Article:The Future Existential Dilemma of China’s Post-2000s Generation Policy (Public Opinion Within the Great Firewall):Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province: Four People Jump Off a Cliff. What is Wrong With This Society? China Is No Longer the World’s Most Populous Country. Whose Turn Is It Now to Attain the “Demographic Dividend”? Politics (Public Opinion within The Great Firewall):“Who Will Feed China?” An In-Depth Look at China’s Global Food Strategy Finance and Business (Public Opinion within The Great Firewall):How to Assess the Investment Risks of Government Funds at All Levels? In China, Is the Delivery Person Inferior to the Person Who Manufactures Microchips?  Lead Article： The Future Existential Dilemma of China’s Post-2000s GenerationWang Dan – UP Media – April 21, 2023 The future of China’s post-2000 generation is both complicated and confusing, but it will be a major variable in China’s development prospects. (Associated Press)China has recently seen a succession of news stories about young people committing suicide. According to online reports, in less than one week between March 19  and March 23, 2023, seven primary and secondary school students in the northeast city of Tianjin committed suicide, allegedly due to family pressures or poor grades. According to the social media posts of many parents, on April 1 Tianjin held an emergency meeting for parents of primary and secondary school students in the city to check on the psychological condition of their children. In a related incident, on April 4 in Tianmen Mountain National Park, Zhangjiajie, in the northwestern part of Hunan province, four young people, between the ages of 23 and 34, gathered together with the express purpose of jumping off a cliff in a group suicide. According to the local police, the four were from Henan, Hebei, Fujian, and Sichuan, and they had devised this plan on the Internet. Before jumping to their deaths, the four took poison and wrote suicide notes dated April 2. The content of the suicide notes was quite simple, in fact only one sentence: “I, XXX, in my civil capacity, independently choose to commit suicide.” According to investigations by reporters, the four deceased were all from poor rural families, and the reason for their collective suicide was that they had lost all hope in life. Whether it is the successive suicides of primary and secondary school students in the northeast coastal city of Tianjin or the collective suicides by four young people in Zhangjiajie, they both reflect the same serious problem: the existential conditions facing Chinese youth. The average economic growth rate in China remained at double digits for more than three decades after the start of the “reform and opening” policy.  China’s rapid economic development during this period has been called an economic miracle by the international community. However, beginning in 2012 the economic growth rate in China started to slow down due to structural factors. Thereafter, the three years of the COVID pandemic exacerbated the economic downturn. At this year’s National People’s Congress, then Premier Li Keqiang, in his government work report, set this year’s economic growth target at “around 5 percent,” the lowest growth figure in three decades. It is feared that the Chinese economy will be unable to return to its previous high growth rate for a very long time, if ever. As a direct consequence of the weakening economy, an insufficient number of jobs are being created. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the number of college graduates will reach a record high of 11.58 million in 2023. But because the existing economy is unable to absorb such a large unemployed population, many young laborers must take odd jobs, such as delivering take-out food, making express deliveries, or driving for online taxi services. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2022, there were 200 million people engaged in such “flexible employment” without formal labor contracts, accounting for about one-quarter of the total working population. In the face of this reality, officials have had to create new rhetoric to calm down the anxious social sentiment. Last year, the official newspaper Guangming Daily published an article that stated: “Young people are choosing flexible employment, so there is no need to worry excessively.” According to the article, young people in China today – unlike their parents or grandparents – are no longer obsessed with becoming affiliated with official work units or organizations and they are now seeking jobs that “match their interests and professional skills.” They value their autonomy to choose whatever work they want and to balance between their work life and their home life. According to the article, flexible employment is a proactive choice made on the part of most young people, so there is no need to worry too much about it. The propaganda departments have taken great pains to present to show that such casual part-time work is chosen independently by many young people. But propaganda cannot completely cover up the reality that – in the face of the weakening economic growth –competition for civil service jobs and government-affiliated employment is becoming increasingly cutthroat. Young people know that in this society where all resources are monopolized by the Communist Party, the only real security can be found by clinging to the “big tree,” that is, the state-owned system. Entering the work force during a period of low economic growth, the generation born after the year 2000 will face severe tests in the future, both in terms of employment and in terms of  life. If they are not careful, it is possible that they will become a new class of urban poor. This generation, which is growing up on the Internet, with social media blatantly flaunting affluent lifestyles in front of their eyes, has developed their own clear perception of what is a good life, but the members of this generation know that such lifestyles are out of their reach. This stark contrast between rich and poor can certainly lead to a state of despair, with a strong sense of injustice and disillusionment among the post-2000 generation, and even the younger generations. But where this sense of injustice will lead them is not yet clear. The members of the generation born after 2000 come from diverse backgrounds and classes. At this point, it is difficult to determine whether they will endure these hardships or choose to resist, or possibly even become a political force to be used by China’s rulers. Thus, they represent a major variable in China’s future development.Policy (Public Opinion within The Great Firewall): Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province: Four People Jump Off a Cliff. What is Wrong With This Society?Xiang Dongliang – Basic Knowledge – April 11, 2023 On April 4, 2023, at about 1:50 pm, four tourists jumped off a cliff from the glass path on the west line at the summit of Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province. (cfp.cn)Summary: The day before Qingming [Tomb Sweeping] Festival in 2023, four young people, who had gathered at the famed scenic area in Zhangjiajie, a city in the northwest of China’s Hunan province, carried out their plan of committing a group suicide by jumping off a cliff. Three fell to their deaths on the spot and one was saved before jumping but because he had taken poison, he died despite resuscitation efforts. One type of commentary on this incident was particularly harsh: how can people who earn more than ¥8,000 a month feel so impoverished that they do not want to continue living? Actually, a construction worker earns ¥8,000 a month, or ¥96,000 per year, which is considered part of the middle-to-high income class in China. But such reasoning is too simplistic: 1.) The intensity of the work is physically and mentally unbearable. 2.) There is a constant threat of under-employment. 3.) Wages are often withheld or left unpaid. 4.) There is a serious lack of social security. 5.) There are no opportunities for career development. 6.) There is always the danger of facing an inescapable chain of poverty. Of course, the above discussion is not meant to provide a “rationalization” for the suicide by the four rural youth but to reach some sense understanding so that we treat people in difficult situations with a little more kindness, providing a few rays of hope.（Read The Original Text）Policy (Public Opinion within The Great Firewall): China is No Longer the World’s Most Populous Country. Whose Turn Is It Now to Attain the “Demographic Dividend”?Ji Ran – Sanlian Life Weekly – April 16, 2023 Compared with countries like Bangladesh or Vietnam, a window for India’s demographic dividend still exists, and it is predicted to continue until 2050. (Visual China Group)Abstract: According to the latest population figures from the United Nations, India’s population surpassed that of China in mid-April 2023. This not-so surprising news has counterintuitively stimulated a variety of discussions. Will having the world’s largest population be an advantage or a burden? In reality, the size of the population in China today has become yet another “burden.” The main challenge facing China’s population now is the fact that young people have to foster and care for their elders in an “inverted pyramid.” The demographic difficulty from not having enough children is also a problem. So, is it time for Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, and other countries to enjoy the “demographic dividend”? This article argues that such a situation should not be interpreted as some places attaining the demographic dividend and other places losing it. Rather, it is the case that the population can bring dividends at one point in time, but the part that brings dividends can eventually become counterproductive. Whether the dividends or the countervailing forces are greater in the end depends on the external factors and the policy tools that people will adopt as well as on the means they will come up with to solve the problems in the society.（Read The Original Text）Politics (Public Opinion within The Great Firewall): “Who Will Feed China?” An In-Depth Look at China’s Global Food StrategyHou Chang – Food World – April 11, 2023 After 2010, and especially after 2014, China’s agricultural investments overseas began to take a new direction. (Visual China Group)Abstract: Since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the strategic importance of basic products such as food and energy has become increasingly prominent. Over the years, China has successfully safeguarded its national security through a strong sense of concern and by strategically allocating and utilizing food resources on a global scale.  So how has China’s food strategy been successful? How should it be developed in the future? The author argues that China must ensure a self-sufficiency rate of about 85 percent in order to be in a relatively advantageous position to import or invest overseas and to make better use of overseas food resources. Otherwise, its ability to negotiate will be greatly limited, and it will also put pressures on the global food market – such as from increasing its imports by a factor of three to four – which will be a huge disaster for other countries. The author concludes that China’s national strategists should break the two traps and misconceptions about China’s food strategy. One is the turn-of-the-century question of “Who will feed China?” The other is the view of China as plunderer of agricultural land overseas – especially in Africa – and the claim that China is practicing neo-colonialism.（Read The Original Text）Finance and Business (Public Opinion within The Great Firewall): How to Assess the Investment Risks of Government Funds at All Levels?Xu Tingfang – Southern Weekend – April 9, 2023 China’s first government-guided fund opens a new mode of cooperation with strategic investments in venture capital institutions.  (chinaventure.com.cn). Abstract: According to the ChinaVenture database, by the end of 2022 Chinese governments at all levels had established 1,531 government-led funds, with a cumulative size of ¥2,737.8 billion. China’s government-led funds primarily consider factors such as whether they can “attract investments” for local governments, whether they conform with national investment policy guidelines, and whether financial resources will be spent effectively and reasonably. Due to variations in local industrial policies, the management approaches for guided funds differ among the various cities, not to mention the performance that result from these differences. This raises questions about the role of government and whether government responsibilities are unified. There is also the question of whether government funds are working as well as they should to achieve the desired outcomes. In short, under demanding conditions, it becomes difficult to attract capable fund managers for projects. Without competent managers, the projects are unlikely to succeed.（Read The Original Text）Finance and Business (Public Opinion within The Great Firewall): In China, Is the Delivery Person Inferior to the Person Who Manufactures Microchips?Liu Yuanju – Southern Metropolis Observer – April 13, 2023 China’s high-tech innovations are supported by delivery services, online platforms like Taobao, and live streaming. (Reuters)Abstract: The following is a recent posting that appeared on social media: According to a patent database, as of March 2023, the number of patents for caskets, tombstones, urns, funeral wreaths, and so forth is reaching at least 9,300, ranking number one in the world. There have been  many online debates that mock this phenomenon. “Although we are temporarily lagging behind others in photo-lithography, silicon semiconductor chips, and other advanced integrated circuit technology, at least in the field of funerals and burial items we are world class.” The author believes that based on the actual circumstances – from respected old professors of noble character and high-prestige classes to learn how to make money, to girls live streaming on Douyin and Kuaishou [China’s TikTok], people are saying that the development of high-tech innovation in China is not in Taobao [China’s eBay], not in e-commerce, and not in short online videos, but rather it is in the laboratory. In fact, they are wrong. It is these latter industries that stimulate demand, provide employment, activate the economy, and only through these industries will there be high-tech innovation in China.（Read The Original Text）

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