World News

I get like 8000nt a month directly deposited into my account.

That's, like, $250/mo American though, isn't it? Imagine giving up a career that earns you $10k/mo so you can spend your time as a daycare worker for 1/40th of that.

China has a brutal 996 culture

Hong Kong and Shanghai business sectors have operating managers that try to foist 996 culture on people, and there are enough young people who don't want to spend their lives on the farm willing to take the opportunity. But you by no means need to work a 996 in order to afford basic standard of living, outside of the high rent sectors in the bigger cities. You see similar work-till-you-drop attitudes across the Pacific Rim - in Japan and Korea and the Philippines and across the pond in California even.

There are plenty of American gig-economy workers and student workers and double-job-holding hard cases who work what amounts to a 996 in practice. As someone who tried to work while in college and hold down two jobs at once, early on in my life, I've seen it and lived it. A pure sucker's bet, as the pay in these jobs is routinely shit and all that extra work never amounts to any kind of career advancement - just burnout. But this isn't in any way unique to China, much less endemic.

Nobody is going to start making babies when a VERY large % of your young population is unemployed.

Unemployment globally is at record lows. Demand for labor is ramping up as the Boomer generation retires and the smaller Millennial and Zoomer workforces matriculate into the industrial and service sectors. And, generally speaking, unemployed people (particularly high school/college drop outs) have more time and opportunity to fuck, not less. When you're young, hot, and broke, fucking is one of the only reliable forms of entertainment. Also, a decently paid way to make a living.

But Western neoliberal culture hates when young people have kids, and both the economy and the legal system exist to punish you for it. Everything from tax laws to workplace advancement are predicated on you giving every ounce of time to your career. Dating, leisure, hobbies, and parental leave all come with a host of knock-on economic penalties and social stigmas.

Its not the unemployed people who are having trouble finding the time and opportunity to make babies. Its far more often the upwardly mobile who have to put off starting a family time and time again, because the economic costs grow considerably as you rise up the socio-economic ladder.

China wants people to move from rural areas to cities

Given their development patterns, it more appears that Chinese planners want the cities to move to rural areas. The article you're citing is describing mass modernization in some of the most remote corners of the country. Northern Hebei abuts Inner Mongolia. Liaocheng is basically China's Iowa.

they forcibly move them

Did you even read the article? They are redeveloping historically agricultural land into urban industrial centers, primarily for the purpose of increasing output in these agricultural territories. Farmers are moving from underdeveloped ranch homes to fully electrified and transit-connected tower blocks of their own accord. In fact, one of the bigger complaints in China is the political economy around folks jumping the queue in order to get into these new luxury units faster.

“Urbanization is in China’s future, but China’s rural population lags behind in enjoying the benefits of economic development,” said Li Shuguang, professor at the China University of Political Science and Law. “The rural population deserves the same benefits and rights city folks enjoy.”

This is a sentiment that's sharply divided rural and urban communities in China for decades, and which has contributed to a gray market of labor moving from poorer rural neighborhoods to richer urban centers that the state is hoping to discourage.