China’s Youth Reject the Rat Race Amid Economic Slowdown—Is America Next?
China’s cooling economy and property crash have pushed a growing number of young adults to flee megacities, snapping up cheap apartments in ghost towns to ‘retire’ early—a cautionary sign for America’s own economic future.
The sprawling "Life in Venice" development along China's eastern coast tells a story far beyond just abandoned buildings. Once envisioned as a luxurious seaside retreat for Shanghai's affluent, today it stands mostly empty—an eerie monument to the consequences of reckless government spending, debt-fueled bubbles, and an economy losing steam.Among the few residents is Sasa Chen, a 28-year-old former Shanghai finance worker who paid just $168 monthly rent to live in one of these dilapidated apartments—and retired early. Chen is emblematic of a profound shift taking root across Chinese society: young people rejecting the exhausting "996" work culture and booming urban...
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