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China is speedrunning “superpower outside, no future inside”
FunnySingapore link: low birthrate, trade dependence, Taobao parcels. Mod please spare me.
China now is darkly funny to watch.
From the outside, still full superpower cosplay. EVs, drones, AI, mega factories, military parades, skyscrapers, exports, red carpet for Trump, Xi giving face like mad.
Then you look inside and the household side looks cooked. Property weak, youth jobs bad, local governments broke, consumers scared to spend, young people avoiding marriage like it is a scam call.
That is the part worth watching. A state can look powerful for a long time even after ordinary people stop believing in the future.
For years, Beijing sold the same story. America declining. China rising. BRICS will kill the dollar. Yuan will challenge USD. West finished.
Then Trump lands in Beijing and gets treated like the final boss they need to keep happy.
If China really holds all the cards, why so much VIP treatment?
Because behind the slogans, Beijing still needs exports, capital access, investor confidence, supply-chain calm and relief from US pressure on chips, tariffs and finance. You can shout dedollarisation all day, but if your economy still needs the US-led system, the theatre can only go so far.
The marriage collapse is the clearest warning.
In China, marriage sounds less like romance and more like a hostile business merger. House, car, bride price, banquet, gold, two sets of parents, future kid, school pressure, medical bills. By the time everything is settled, love already died in Excel.
Then add 996 work culture. The husband technically exists but is never home. The wife works too, then still has to carry the household. One child may have to support two parents and four grandparents. Men cannot afford the package. Women look at the package and realise single life is simply less stupid.
So young people quietly opt out.
No marriage. No kids. No big spending. No faith in the official future.
That kind of withdrawal is more dangerous than protest because it looks peaceful. Nobody is marching. Nobody is shouting. People just stop buying the dream.
And this is where the thin SG link stops being a joke.
From outside, a country can look world-class. Rankings, shiny buildings, strong state, rich people parking money, efficient government, everyone praising the system.
Then normal people look at housing, work, children, ageing parents, tuition, job security and cost of living, and quietly ask: this future is for who?
China is just the louder warning.
Once young people stop buying the future, no slogan can make them marry, spend, reproduce or clap again.
