HN user
tons of fake stuff in China, here's a short list to blow your mind
- people would spray paint mountain/rocks/dirt to be green, to fool the environment bureau
- fake and toxic food, such as eggs made of plastic byproducts, noodles made with ink and parafin
- retaining wall in apartment buildings made up of dirty and rocks
China is broke, like dead broke. It will follow Soviet Union's footstep of space race with the US in 1960 and collapse of Soviet Union.
Ship building is not the same technology level as spacecraft. China famously exclaimed in 2019 that they will be able to duplicate EUV in a few years, when dutch introduced EUV restrictions in China in 2019. Still nothing from China on EUV. Still nothing from China in terms of plane engines. Their new carrier in 2024 is still just a "demo" carrier, not to be used in real combat.
With the 50-70% youth unemployment [1], private enterprises dying [2], and dictatorship in China, scientists will either become disillusioned with work and lay flat, or flee to other countries.
[1] Chinese professor says youth jobless rate might have hit 46.5% (2023) https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL4N3960Z5/
[2] https://www.barrons.com/articles/chinas-private-sector-is-lo...
it's an outrage that USPS is subsidizing temu/shein/aliexpress to ship toxic/cancerous items from China to kids.
Temu’s products, like those of its peers, harbor these toxins. In fact, Health Canada revealed that a Shein children’s jacket contained more than 20 times the allowable amount of lead for children’s products.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2854161/temu-dark...
Seoul gov't finds carcinogens in children's products from Temu, AliExpress
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-25/nationa...
Some brainwashing by TikTok is no doubt involved
It's typically on Chinese social media apps, and when they get popular they get taken down immediately by the government
here are some remnants in non-chinese websites.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2023-06/26/c_1129716071.htm
https://botanwang.com/articles/202308/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%...
https://www.voachinese.com/a/more-chinese-white-collar-worke...
if you want to verify secondary effects: Retail sales of passenger cars in China declined to 1.095 million units, down 21% from a year earlier and 46% from January. https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/chinas-vehicle-sales-drop.... A decline of real estate development investment widened to 9.5% in the first quarter from 9% in the first two months https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-16/china-hom... Stingy Chinese shoppers are returning their goods, erasing up to 75% of their sales value.https://fortune.com/asia/2024/04/17/luxury-brands-new-headac...
the laying flat movement has mostly to do with lack of jobs/opportunity for young people.
- there's a societal trend to not hire people over the age of 30-35 in China. after months of looking for work, they've given up
- there's an unofficial 70% youth unemployment rate, and with 12 million new grads each year and intense competition for government work, sometimes hundred of applicants for a single stable government spot, the new grads give up
- the young generation has realized that no house/car/marriage/kid (没房没车没妻子) is a good way to live, and there's no pressure on them to create a life. so they lay flat. thus the abysmal marriage/child rate in China, which is near the bottom of world ranking
- the new grads don't want to work in a factory, day or night shift, for $2/hour.
- if the workers are in 1st tier cities, they can barely save up any money working and living there, due to the recent 50% reduction in wages ($1000/month -> $500/month) and increased spending on necessities. so it's easier for them to just not work and live off of parents.
I wouldn't call what the young people lying flat in china "rich enough". There are stories of people in their 20s and 30s, after college or after layoffs, that they've either got a few thousand dollars saved up or from family. They couldn't find any jobs due to ~70% youth unemployment rate. Or they don't want to work in factories that pays out $2/hour and waste their degree. So they are moving to very remote countryside and renting a room for $50/month, and spending only $.50 a day. Or live off of parents, what's also known as 啃老族 or eat the old.
Remember the previous Chinese premier confirmed there are 700 million people living off less than $100/month a few years ago. so this living of standard is possible for young people. Especially now that there's widespread 50% reduction in wages/cost of living in China.
build quality, performance, serviceability, support for Chinese EV cars are also low/non-existent. there are plenty of videos from China that shows Chinese EV cars not working after a few days, or ones that combust into flames on the streets
The article say absolutely nothing about build quality, performance, serviceability, support or really anything about ANY of those "dozen" cars.
It mentions one car and only one feature and that is the 4K display. That's the only concrete thing the author actually talks about. The display.
And he also mentions how he was a guest of Geely. So he was not there as independent journalist.
Everything else is fluff.
short sightedness. when your fellow citizens lose their jobs to foreign invaders, you will feel it eventually.
there are many reasons why US (and Europe) wants a high tariff on Chinese EVs
#1 - Ukraine, EU and US are engaged in a full out war against Russia and China. Why would US and EU want to allow China to destroy its car industry, while China helps Russia bomb, rape and kill Ukraine, and potentially EU/nato down the road?
#2 - Chinese EVs heavily subsidized by the government, to the tune of thousands of dollars of losses per vehicle. That's how China has destroyed solar industries in US and EU.
#3 - Chinese EVs are created in abysmal work condition and tons of destructions to the environment. There's no other way for US and EU to punish China on that except with tariffs.
#4 - they know some immoral consumers in US will ignore dictatorship concerns and just go for some cheap products, so they are taking a decisive step
#5 - other countries are already leveraging high tariffs on Chinese cars, or is in the process of doing so - it's clear to most countries that China is dumping. Europe has aimed to place 50% by November. Brazil has a 10% tariff that increases to 36% in 2026.
As a consumer in the US (and Europe), most of us do not want some cheaper car, just so our country can lose in a battle against dictatorship