Photo: A job fair in China (Getty Images)
[People News] In April 2026, the National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China proudly announced the first quarter data, claiming that GDP growth had reached 5%, with signs of consumption recovery, stable exports, and strong investment. The grand narrative of 'economic recovery and improvement,' 'high-quality development,' and 'celebrating the bright future of the Chinese economy' dominated the official media.
For a moment, it seemed as if all the little birds were singing joyfully.
However, a casual scroll through social media revealed grim videos that were suffocating and shattered the worldview of ordinary people, exposing the harsh reality behind this seemingly prosperous era.
On April 21, two videos from Dongguan, Guangdong, surfaced on platform X.
The first video was filmed on the streets of Dongguan: a frail, stiff, unidentified corpse lay on the pavement in the industrial area, glaringly illuminated by the sun. The corpse's face was pale, with long black hair and tightly closed eyes, seemingly filled with grief and injustice. Judging by appearance, it was clearly a young person around 20 years old. The eyewitness filming the video appeared to want to approach this unfortunate child, but was stopped by the cold voice of security personnel just outside the camera frame.
The second video indicated that the location was near Chang'an in Dongguan, where a man in his twenties was found hanging in a rental apartment. His body had been decomposing for three days before it was discovered, and in the video, the corpse was being carried into a van, while a helmeted auxiliary police officer patrolled nearby.
Another video showcases the heartbreaking experience of a job seeker in Wuhan. In this clip, the blogger interviews him in an underpass. The young man shares that he has been in Wuhan for over a month, filled with hope as he applied to more than ten factories, dreaming of securing a job to support his family. Unfortunately, instead of receiving a job offer, he faces an unending series of 'pre-employment medical examinations.' After undergoing seven or eight medical checks and blood tests, each costing hundreds of yuan—sometimes as much as two or three hundred—his chances of employment seem to fade further away. The job seeker, who started with 1,500 yuan in cash, finds himself completely drained of funds. He spends 1.5 yuan to rent a shared bicycle, desperately riding to the underpass in search of a place to stay, and ultimately, he is left with just 3 yuan.
The unfortunate stories of these three individuals from two different locations are not mere fabrications or coincidences; they represent a stark reality of the current economic downturn in China and a grim reflection of the hardships faced by the people.
In 2025, the annual GDP growth rate is projected to be just 4.5%, significantly below the 'maintain five' target. For the first time in 2026, the Chinese Communist Party (Zhonggong) will lower its GDP expectation target to below five, setting it at 4.5%. In March of this year, the official youth unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 soared to 16.9%, a statistic that excludes nearly 300 million flexible workers and university students who have not yet graduated. The real estate market is in freefall, with new commercial housing sales in the first quarter of 2026 totalling 195 million square meters, a year-on-year decline of 10.4%. Residential sales dropped by 13.1%, with total sales revenue at 1.73 trillion yuan, down 16.7%, and residential sales down 18.5%. The IMF forecasts that by 2026, China's public debt will reach 106.9% of GDP, increasing to 127% by 2031. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has plunged into a deflationary mire at -0.5%, with total retail consumption in 2025 expected to rise by only 2.8%.
These stark figures mask the profound suffering of countless individuals at the grassroots level. The skeletal remains of two young people in Dongguan and the sleepless bridge underpass in Wuhan are but mere fragments of flesh and blood crushed beneath the massive wheel of what the Chinese Communist Party has self-designated as the 'prosperous era.'
Guangdong Dongguan was once celebrated as the world's factory outpost. In 2021, its GDP surpassed one trillion yuan, establishing it as a manufacturing powerhouse with a permanent population exceeding 10 million and an employed workforce of approximately 7 to 8 million. However, in recent years, as the economy under the Chinese Communist Party continues to decline, Dongguan has witnessed a dramatic withdrawal of foreign investment. Long-standing foreign enterprises, some operating for nearly 30 years, have fallen into losses, prompting a mass exodus of foreign, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong capital. By 2025, a wave of factory sell-offs is expected, transforming industrial areas into ghost towns, with business owners fleeing without paying wages. Manufacturing orders have contracted by 10-20%, and traditional labour-intensive industries are relocating to Southeast Asia and Africa. By 2025, around one-third of the workforce may find themselves in flexible employment or unemployed.
The two skeletons found have no names, no household registration, and even lack a complete record of their pleas for help. Such tragedies are not exclusive to Dongguan. At the end of 2025, in the Bao'an District of Shenzhen, a food delivery rider fainted from hunger on the street in extreme heat, surrounded by onlookers who did not offer assistance. The video circulated for a few hours before being taken down. If the deceased in Dongguan symbolises the tragic endpoint, then the job seeker under the bridge in Wuhan represents someone speeding toward that same endpoint.
In the spring of Wuhan, where cherry blossoms bloom and tourists gather, a young man is forced to sleep under a bridge due to unsuccessful job searches. This absurd situation highlights the grim reality under the oppressive weight of the system. Such cases are played out in countless variations across the country every day. A migrant worker in Tangshan's Qian'an District faced an even more dire situation. In March 2026, after visiting 20 factories and depleting his medical examination funds, he ended up sleeping in a park, stating, 'I survive on a bowl of noodles a day, while my child waits for money at home.' After his video gained traction, his account was banned, and his story faded into obscurity.
As I scroll through social media videos, I encounter increasingly shocking stories. In 2026, at the Jin Hai Jiang Pan International Community in Dandong, Liaoning, mortgage payments were halted, businesses went bankrupt, and a family, in a desperate act of loyalty to themselves, set their own home ablaze, affecting their neighbours as well. What kind of loneliness, helplessness, and despair must one feel to resort to such an act? It is easy to imagine that they must have exhausted every possible option to salvage their situation, trying to prevent things from spiralling into the most dangerous territory. Yet, when heaven does not respond, and the earth offers no help, they ultimately find themselves on a path of no return.
In another video, a young man is seen rummaging through a trash can for food. He appears to be dressed reasonably well, but this may be his last vestige of dignity. He does not wish to avoid work or fail to support himself; rather, society has simply denied him the opportunity to be self-sufficient. In yet another video, an older man, unable to find work in the city, resorts to eating tree leaves by the roadside! The image of him desperately picking leaves to stave off hunger is jarring—it's as if China's economy has regressed to an era of subsistence. In that moment, it felt like a flashback to the Great Famine three years ago! In yet another clip, a man, now homeless after losing his job, sneaks into a cemetery to target the offerings left at graves, either stealing food or taking items to sell at a low price. It has come to this point, where he cannot compete with the living for resources, but instead finds himself competing with the dead for sustenance.
These extreme cases represent just the tip of the iceberg regarding the dire living conditions in contemporary society under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid a comprehensive macroeconomic downturn, desperate groups are spreading like wildfire. There is no specific count of these groups, and even fewer are considering how to assist and relieve them. In the eyes of the Chinese government, they are not individuals urgently needing to escape poverty; rather, they are subjects that the government is determined to stabilise. Their existence has been broadcast to the outside world by those with ulterior motives, causing significant damage to the great motherland and its leader, Xi Jinping.
We can only glean quantitative data from a small corner of the industry. According to the CCP's central bank data for the first quarter of 2026, the collapse of the real estate bubble has led to over 8 million households ceasing mortgage payments. This figure provides a predictable baseline for the 'three jumping individuals'—those who jump from buildings, into rivers, or off bridges—in major cities. Consequently, in areas such as Lujiazui in Shanghai, Zhujiang New Town in Guangzhou, and the Third Ring Road in Beijing, the presence of anti-jump personnel and 24-hour patrols has become a comical yet terrifying standard in the urban landscape.
In February 2026, a middle-aged teacher in Xinyang, Henan, tragically jumped into a river and died due to mortgage pressure. A post by the family seeking justice circulated on Weibo for a day before being deleted, with the official designation being 'personal issue.' The CCP system has never considered addressing the root causes that drive individuals to contemplate jumping off buildings. Instead, it is focused on advancing large-scale infrastructure projects, constructing these wire cages, until the economic crisis strikes directly at the political stability base and incites strong public anger. At that point, they arrest the 'Belt Brother' Xu Jiayin and force him to confess on video.
The issue of 'malicious wage collection' has become a common occurrence: in 2025, cases of unpaid wages for migrant workers rose by 15%. A construction foreman in Hebei absconded with funds, leaving hundreds of workers without any compensation. Some even climbed construction cranes to protest, only to be accused of 'malicious wage collection.' The real issue is not whether to collect wages, but whether you are maliciously attacking the socialist motherland. Can the motherland allow you to work while starving? Is it possible to work without receiving payment? Are you ignoring the great common prosperity plan? If so, aren't you being malicious? If you don't take action, who will?
The collapse of the middle class is equally alarming. The 'boiling frog' phenomenon is eroding the backbone of society. The failure rate of startups has reached as high as 85%. According to data from the State Administration for Market Regulation of the Communist Party of China, over 3 million private enterprises were deregistered in 2025, and layoffs among executives have contributed to a crisis situation. In Beijing's Zhongguancun, a tech company director has been unemployed for six months, resorting to pawning his wedding ring to survive. Screenshots from his social media have circulated, and he ultimately took his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning in his rented apartment.
The plight of 500 million farmers is a tragedy that goes unheard. Elderly villagers are falling into poverty due to illness, with a medical insurance reimbursement rate of only 60%. A report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicts that the number of people falling back into poverty will increase by 12 million in 2025. In a remote village in Guizhou, in the spring of 2026, more than ten elderly individuals collapsed from hunger in the fields. Local media reported on this for a short time before retracting the article, leaving only word of mouth among the villagers. Li Qiang shamelessly announced at this year's Two Sessions that farmers' pensions have increased by 20 yuan this year.
Under the banner of 'Singing the Praises of Economic Prosperity, all discussions of suffering have become taboo. The media has ceased to report on unemployment, instead promoting flexible employment; it no longer addresses the issue of starvation during prosperous times, focusing solely on celebrating poverty alleviation achievements. This systematic institutional censorship represents a second murder of the victims, allowing them to die in isolation, silently and without dignity.
Stability takes precedence over everything. To local governments, the threat posed by a starving homeless person is far less significant than that of individuals asserting their rights. As long as the body is disposed of quickly and the video is deleted promptly, the facade of prosperity remains intact. The body in Dongguan is already cold, while a young man in Wuhan has found a temporary refuge for the night. Yet, in unseen corners, how many people are wandering the streets with their last few coins? How many are staring at eviction notices, contemplating a leap from a bridge? Amid the slogans of a rising great power, the wheels of authoritarianism continue to roll forward, with every inch of the roadbed saturated with the blood and flesh of the oppressed. It demands that the little birds can only sing, even as they endure the deadly winds and the despair of winter.
If a prosperous era requires the dead to shatter the illusion of stability, and a society needs individuals to confront lies directly, then this era of prosperity is not far from its demise. When life is reduced to indistinct data by communist authoritarianism, the act of recording itself becomes a form of resistance. May the deceased rest in peace, and may the living find the courage to curse and resist the absurdity of this so-called prosperous era.
(First published by the People News)△
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