新闻来源：www.bloomberg.com
原文地址：China’s Policy Shift Upends the Lives of Its Best and Brightest
新闻日期：2024-09-20
近期，我们探讨了一些中国银行家被迫返还奖金、北京关于提高退休年龄的决定，以及大陆网上最新流行趋势。
中国私营部门日益疲软，让一代高薪工作者面临困境。中国现任总统习近平认为，金融、消费科技和房地产等行业如今已不再受青睐，取而代之的是对诸如新能源和绿色经济等领域的投入。“高质量”发展成为新的口号，不再是“高速发展”。
实际上，在这些行业中成千上万的人面临着悲观的前景。尤其是一些中年人正承受着巨大的压力。
他们的担忧在中国社交媒体上清晰可见，这则消息很快成为中国热门话题，短时间内浏览量超过了五亿次。
“当我60岁时还要和年轻人竞争工作吗？”一位微博用户问道。
另一位说：“我出生时人们说我太多，我生孩子时他们又说我太少，我想工作时他们说我是老人，等我退休了，他们又说我还太年轻。”
一周一看：中国官员的最新想法
美国歌手Kanye West近期在16年内首次在中国登台表演，并成功吸引了许多中国粉丝。这不仅是因为中美关系紧张以及文化需求的变化，也因为Kanye West因部分反犹言论受到关注，这些在中国的审查制度下可能不太合适。
有人甚至开玩笑说，他误以为自己签的是香港的演唱会门票，其实是指海南省省会海口市。
除了 Kanye West，近期还有其他美国明星在华演出。Mariah Carey 在北京举办了两天的音乐会，并穿着六英寸高跟鞋登上了长城。The Chainsmokers 也在苏州和北京连续进行了多场演出。
这波海外音乐会可能是为了提振国内消费，尤其是旅游和演唱会等领域的增长。Kanye West 的演唱会门票在几分钟内售罄，购买者主要来自上海、广州和深圳。
海南省旅游局表示，该场演唱会的票务收入达到了5100万元人民币。
原文摘要：
Welcome to Next China. Each week, we take you inside the economic giant. If you haven’t received this newsletter directly, you can subscribe . This week, we explore why some Chinese bankers are having to give back their bonuses, dissect Beijing’s move to raise the retirement age, and look at what’s going viral behind the Great Firewall.China’s weakening private sector has put a lot at stake for a generation of its best-paid workers.As President Xi Jinping , industries such as finance, consumer tech and property — key drivers of growth for much of this century — are now out of favor. Instead, resources are funneled toward endeavors such as and . “” growth is the new mantra, not “high speed.”On the ground, the picture is bleak for millions of people in sectors now cast adrift. Middle-aged people in these industries are facing the brunt of the burden.With threats like job losses, salary cuts () and missed mortgages — not to mention children and older folks who need supporting — a generation of people are dealing with a crisis in their personal lives. One person who used to work in real estate received only a few job offers after 70 interviews – then the offers were rescinded. Another who once sold almost 1 billion yuan ($141 million) of property for Country Garden is now peddling health supplements on social media. Some people in state-backed are facing up to 40% cuts in pay, while foreign companies retreating from the country are . That’s led to a wave of people dealing with issues related to mental health or their marriage. Some are turning to sleeping pills to cope with anxiety and depression. At the heart of the biggest changes in China in decades, there’s also a clash of values between those in power and the generation of people who grew up in the reform era. They are accustomed to a China that integrated with Western societies in terms of retail, capital and values. The world they knew lauded individual ambition, the idea of “the entrepreneur” and wealth accumulation. But it’s no longer glorious to get rich.All of this underscores a serious problem for China and the world. The among many of the country’s best-educated workers risks exacerbating the gloom enveloping China’s $18 trillion economy.To be fair, some of the challenges that China is experiencing stem from long-term structural problems — its and its overreliance on debt that fueled an unsustainable property boom.Yet what’s becoming clearer for these people is that what they thought of as a lifelong career and their status in an affluent middle class was a moment in a bubble. What We’re Reading, Listening to and Watching:The dream of retirement for many Chinese people will just have to wait.Lawmakers have approved a plan to retirement by up to five years to help deal with China’s shrinking workforce and support the pension system. Men will retire at 63 instead of 60, and women at 55 instead of 50 for ordinary workers (even later if they’re managers).This is the first increase in the retirement age since 1978, when China was mainly an agrarian society under Deng Xiaoping, and the average life expectancy was just 66. Today, it’s a with life expectancy reaching 78, similar to developed economies where people often retire well into their 60s. Delaying retirement is also crucial for tackling the caused by the one-child policy, which resulted in a generation of single children now responsible for supporting a growing elderly population. Efforts to encourage more births haven’t made much difference, with the fewest babies born last year.China’s top legislative body also said that employees will need to contribute more to their pension accounts before they can start receiving benefits. With the pension pot running dry, the country is to build enough of a fund to support its rapidly growing elderly population.Even though the retirement age will be raised gradually over 15 years starting in January, many people are upset about having to work longer. They’re worried about facing more competition for jobs, especially with the economy slowing down and future prospects looking less promising.Their is clear on Chinese social media, where the news quickly became a top trending topic, racking up over half a billion views within a few hours.“Are you asking me, when I’m 60, to compete with young people for jobs?” a Weibo user said on the X-like social media platform.Another one said: “When I was born they said there were too many. When I gave birth they said there were too few. When I wanted to work they said I was too old. And when I retire they say I’m too young.’’ A weekly look at an item that’s been big water cooler news in China.Chinese officials are finding new ways to — and this time it’s in the form of Kanye West. The American rapper, now known as Ye, performed in China on Sunday for the first time in 16 years to the surprise of Chinese fans. That’s partly because of US-China tensions over issues ranging from Taiwan to technology, and also because Ye has attractedfor his antisemitic comments. That surely wouldn’t sit well with Chinese censors, which have previously banned Justin Bieber for his “bad behavior,” restricted Hollywood films and cracked down on the display of tattoos in public media.Some Internet users even joked that Ye had signed up for a concert in “HK,” mistakenly believing it referred to the more freewheeling Hong Kong, when it actually meant Haikou, the capital of Hainan province in mainland China.Ye isn’t the only American celebrity in town. Mariah Carey held a two-day concert in Beijing this week, and even climbed the Great Wall of China in six-inch heels. The Chainsmokers also performed in the country, first in Suzhou and then in Beijing. The flurry of concerts is probably not because China’s middle-aged bureaucrats are fans of Western music, but because the economic argument won them over. While sluggish consumption has weighed on growth, spending on like tourism and concerts has emerged as a bright spot. All 42,000 tickets for Ye’s concert were snapped up within minutes, with most buyers coming from Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Hainan’s tourism bureau said the event generated 51 million yuan ($7 million) of ticket sales.Perhaps authorities thought a few international performers couldn’t do more damage in the face of an economic slowdown. Almost as soon as Ye’s concert wrapped up, Hainan officials another show this weekend.
