World Feels It When Spending Habits Of 500 Million Chinese Change

2025-04-02 03:22:24

(MENAFN- Asia Times) China's economic rocket ride appears to be ending – or slowing, at least. Growth has declined from 8.4% in 2021 to 4.5% today , youth unemployment has climbed to 16.9% , and cities are filled with unfinished buildings after the collapse of property developer Evergrande in 2024.

For a while now, a phrase has been buzzing on Chinese social media sites Weibo and RedNote to describe what's happening:“garbage time .”

Borrowed from basketball slang, it refers to the final minutes of a game whose outcome is already decided . The best players sit out. The bench players take over. No one tries as hard because there's less at stake.

The term caught on last year and seems to capture a mixture of sadness and dark humor. Basically, people now seem to expect less. It's not so much an economic crash as a slow decline of hope .

For those born in the 1980s and 1990s, who grew up during China's four decades of fast growth , this is a major shift. Wages aren't climbing , houses are losing value and jobs in tech and finance are harder to find .

But“garbage time” is also making room for younger and middle-class Chinese to redefine success and contentment. With good jobs, luxury goods and home ownership now harder to attain , a generation is questioning what matters most in a changing socioeconomic landscape.

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