​​Everytown, China (part two): the young

宜春年轻人的困境

Drum Tower

2024-12-25

38 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Spare a thought for China's youngsters. Unlike their parents, who came of age at a time when it wasn't hard to catch a ride on China's economic elevator, young Chinese have fewer opportunities. Despite hard work and university degrees, many are priced out of the property market. In a country where having an apartment is generally a prerequisite for marriage, and bride prices can demolish a family's savings, that institution is increasingly out of reach.  The result is a generation of people who are risk-averse, which becomes clear when you talk with people in Yichun, China's “median city”. In the second episode of a two-part series, David Rennie, The Economist's geopolitics editor, and Alice Su, our senior China correspondent, return to Yichun to ask its younger residents if they are hopeful or fearful about the future. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. 
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单集文稿 ...

  • The Economist.

  • Last week we travelled to Yichun, a city in Jiangxi province, which is arguably the most typical in China.

  • We heard from older people who talked about the astonishing changes they'd seen in their lives.

  • All of them said that they had better lives than their parents had.

  • Some of them described catching waves of economic opportunity at just the right moment,

  • transforming their lives as China's market economy took off.

  • But when I asked the same people about the prospects for their children and grandchildren, there the picture was a lot more mixed.

  • In this week's episode, we hear from younger generations living in Yichun.

  • I'm David Rennie, the Economist's geopolitics editor, and I'm here with my co-host Alice Su, our senior China correspondent.

  • In the second part of our series on Yichun, China's median city, we're asking, how do young people feel about their future?

  • This is Drum Tower.

  • From The Economist.

  • Alice, it's nearly Christmas.

  • I don't know how Christmasy Taipei gets, probably more than Beijing,

  • but any special Christmas food, are you going to go full on American or are you going to go Taiwanese?

  • Is it seafood, turkey?

  • Definitely not full on American.

  • My whole family is visiting, so I start preparing weeks in advance.

  • You know, it's quite competitive to get restaurant reservations in Taipei sometimes,

  • so I'm reserving like big Cantonese banquet rooms and just trying to get large round tables that can fit my whole family,