A recession is ‘hiding in plain sight,’ says an investment consultancy firm, as concerns grow over China’s dismal economic landscape.
Randy Wang, a 28-year-old factory supervisor living in a coastal city in China, is seriously considering giving up on hard work, or what’s now known in China as “lying flat.”
Until recently, doing just enough to get by wasn’t an option for him. Although many young Chinese have joined the “lying flat” movement because they can’t see how hard work would make a difference in their lives, he hasn’t been one of them.
Mr. Wang uses an alias because of a fear of reprisal from the Chinese regime.
A son of a rural Chinese family, he bought an apartment in late 2020, just three years after graduating from college. At that time, he was optimistic about the future.
Mr. Wang’s 1,100-square-foot apartment has since lost one-fifth of its original value of 1.2 million yuan (about $176,000). Even if he wanted to sell it, few are buying. He still owes the bank 880,000 yuan (about $124,000), or more than 90 percent of the current property value.
To find a way out, he used a credit card to invest 100,000 yuan (about $14,000) in the stock market in February 2023, holding a mix of state-owned enterprises and private companies. Since then, China’s stock market has been falling. By November 2023, he had less than 40 percent of his initial investment left. To stanch further loss, he cut his losses and sold his stock, describing it as a “very painful” decision.
China’s stock rout “added insult to injury,” Mr. Wang told The Epoch Times.
Even though last year was difficult, he said, “I think 2023 was the best year in quite a few to come.”
Mr. Wang hasn’t seen any signs that indicated otherwise.
As it stands now, his net worth is negative. Mr. Wang’s total housing and credit card debt is about 1.5 million yuan; he owns an apartment that he may be able to sell at 950,000 yuan, and he doesn’t have any savings. An additional credit card debt of 600,000 yuan was incurred for the apartment’s renovation, his father’s medical expenses, and previous losses in the stock market.
By Terri Wu
