China 2025

New on the site this time:
Three new texts, all on China’s mood as 2025 dawns.  All are bleak.

Sun Liping. “The Two Things People Are Most Worried About, Which Can Also Count as a Belated New Year's Wish” notes that everyone in China is stressed out, because the educational system has become an endless competition that dumps graduates into a rat race of a job world.  People just want a normal life, he argues, and China surely has enough wealth to make that possible.

Lao Dongyan, “My 2024, in which I Learned to Start Over” tells the story of Lao’s recovery from burnout and depression.  Lao, a law professor at Tsinghua, has been outspoken in the past few years, only to be criticized because “her values are no longer in tune with the times.”  She spent a sabbatical year in Canada and got her motivation back.

Youthology, “China’s Vulnerable Generation” paints a bleak picture of everyone under 30.  China’s higher education system democratized just as China’s growth rate stalled, flooding the job market with frustrated young people.  The China Dream has stalled, and no one knows what to do about it.
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Enjoy!