Triple Pressure Boils Over Public Grievance—China Is About to Change!

During the 2025 Mid-Autumn Festival, consumption remained sluggish—mooncakes couldn’t even be sold. Business owners lamented bitterly, saying they had never seen anything like it. (Video screenshot)

[People News] Under the triple pressure of economic downturn, political oppression, and social trust collapse, China’s livelihood crisis continues to worsen. Speech control grows tighter by the day, the quality of public services has sharply declined, and public discontent is accumulating like a volcano ready to erupt. Yet the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), incapable of governing, has resorted to ordering officials to make appearances at the grassroots level—believing that such staged “shows of being close to the people” could “extinguish the fire” and pacify public anger. However, these hollow performances that do nothing to improve people’s livelihoods no longer buy goodwill. People have grown numb—or even deeply resentful. Experts believe that this crisis is not merely economic, but a precursor to the collapse of the political system.

Corporate Entry into Agriculture Is Exploiting Farmers

According to The Dajiyuan, a blogger recently posted a video mocking the government’s propaganda about “rural GDP,” calling it nothing more than empty talk built on farmers’ backbreaking labor. Farmers toil year-round yet earn little, with grain prices so low they can’t even sustain themselves. He criticized corporations for entering agriculture only to exploit farmers. The so-called “rural revitalization” has become an empty slogan, resulting in hollow villages—abandoned homes, closed schools, weeping elders, dying livestock, and young people leaving for migrant work.

But life in the cities offers little hope either. Most struggle to make ends meet, burdened by heavy mortgages. Parents scrimp and save to support their children, only to face lonely old age.

The blogger blamed genetically modified crops, food additives, capital exploitation, high housing prices, and soaring medical and education costs for worsening life both in cities and the countryside. He called for higher grain prices to retain farmers, warning that without them, revitalization would remain a mirage—there would be no one left to “develop” anything.

Another blogger sharply condemned the chaos in today’s society, bluntly stating: “Food makes people sick, hospitals drain patients’ wealth, education crushes parents, the internet destroys children, real estate bleeds citizens dry, online stores ruin physical shops, the stock market bankrupts retail investors, loans drive ordinary people to death, borrowing ruins relationships, and ‘experts’ mislead farmers.” These phenomena reflect the decay of medical ethics, moral collapse among teachers, lack of channels for good deeds, and the rampant spread of evil. He urged people to wake up to this cannibalistic world, warning that no one will walk the path for you.

Food, Housing, Healthcare, and Education Cripple Ordinary Families

Multiple interviewees said China’s economic situation continues to deteriorate, directly threatening people’s lives.

Wang Ya (alias), a freelancer in Guangzhou, said: “Food prices keep skyrocketing. Young people can’t afford homes, medical costs are soaring, and education expenses are suffocating families. The most basic necessities have become luxuries. The pressure on ordinary families has reached the breaking point.”

In healthcare, Mr. Hu, an engineer who recently moved from China to the U.S., provided shocking examples: “Since the centralized drug procurement policy began in 2019, drug quality has worsened year after year. By 2025, it’s become appallingly bad. Syringe needles are defective, anesthesia doses are insufficient—patients have even woken up in the middle of surgery.” This reflects the systemic collapse of China’s public health system under fiscal strain.

Regarding employment, Shanghai resident Yu Zhonghuan described a chilling reality: “Foreign companies are leaving en masse. Young people can’t find jobs. Even security guard positions once filled by people over 60 are now being cut for those under 60. Countless migrant workers are jobless and have started returning home.”

Meanwhile, commercial stagnation is visible everywhere: two-thirds of stores in new mid-to-high-end malls have closed, office buildings are largely vacant, and once-bustling streets are now deserted. The collapse of economic vitality chills everyone to the bone.

Food safety scandals are also exploding. Mr. Hu noted: “Just ten days after the new school term started, three schools already had mass food poisoning incidents. Even relatively wealthy cities like Shanghai are failing—showing that local governments can no longer fund even the most basic safety standards. When finances can’t sustain basic protections, crises erupt in the most direct and brutal ways.”

Environmental pollution is another worsening issue. Hu said: “Local governments and major taxpayers have formed alliances of shared interest. Under fiscal pressure, they’re more motivated than ever to turn a blind eye to pollution. From toxic odors in Shenyang to sewage incidents in Hangzhou, environmental quality keeps deteriorating, and people’s living space keeps shrinking.”

Recently, the government’s new “K Visa” policy has sparked an unexpectedly fierce backlash. Instead of easing tensions, it has created new divisions, tightening already strained nerves across society.

Hu explained: “When local college graduates can’t find jobs and wages are pitiful, the government introduces a low-threshold foreign talent policy—what a slap in the face! Educated people who once formed the regime’s core support base are now questioning whose side the government is on. This shows the very foundation of the regime’s legitimacy is eroding.”

Paranoid Censorship Escalates

All interviewees agreed that China’s speech environment under CCP rule is shrinking rapidly, reaching paranoid extremes.

Yu Zhonghuan said his WeChat accounts were banned six times for posting so-called “negative energy” comments, before being permanently deleted. “When you express a dissenting view, not only your account but the entire chat group gets deleted—and others in the group lose their accounts too,” he said helplessly. “Even posting on Twitter brings police warnings at your door.”

The CCP’s suppression of rights defenders is even more brutal. Yu revealed a chilling detail: “Anyone who buys a train ticket to Beijing for petitioning is immediately monitored. Many have been detained in black jails since June, still not released. They’ll probably be held until all major events are over. Families can’t even see them—the path to petition is completely blocked.”

Yu warned: “One by one, those who dare to speak are silenced. Most people are furious but afraid to talk—but this resentment is building underground and will eventually explode.”

Social Trust Is Disintegrating

Under the dual pressure of livelihood crises and speech control, social trust is collapsing in a domino effect.

Wang Ya said: “Economic stress and social conflicts have driven trust among people to freezing point. Everyone’s in self-preservation mode. Neighbors treat each other like strangers, communities have zero cohesion. Years of brainwashing have eroded moral boundaries—people will do anything for personal gain. Human nature has been twisted to a shocking degree.”

Child abductions have become a focal point of public anxiety. Yu said many suspect organ trafficking behind these cases, but because everyone is selfish, “people only care about their own kids and ignore others’ suffering. That kind of short-sightedness means no one is ultimately safe.”

Hu also noted an alarming trend: frequent disappearances of university students, with the government not only failing to investigate but actively covering up. “This abnormal response deepens public mistrust and fear,” he said. “A large segment of the population now fundamentally doubts the government’s competence and intentions. This collapse of trust threatens the foundation of social stability.”

Adding irony, even retired officials have begun seeing the truth. Yu revealed: “Retired personnel from the judiciary privately admit they know better than anyone how serious things are—but to protect their privileges, they still defend the system. This hypocrisy makes society even more false and divided.”

Lawyer: The Moment of Change Is Drawing Near

Mainland lawyer Chen Feng (alias) analyzed the current situation from a macro perspective, revealing the deeper logic behind the crisis.

“Since the reform and opening-up, rapid economic growth masked the political system’s fundamental flaws. Ordinary people were too busy making money to care about power structures. But now that the economy has plummeted, people suddenly realize that authoritarian power not only fails to improve their lives—it’s the root cause of their suffering.”

Chen believes the current scale and speed of public awakening are unprecedented: “The inefficiency caused by economic monopolies, the constant exposure of massive corruption, and the worsening plight of private businesses and citizens—all form a stark contrast. Lies can no longer fool the younger generation. Many young people are climbing the Great Firewall to learn the truth. Various forms of subtle resistance are increasing.”

The rulers, he said, already sense the looming crisis: “Tightening censorship and internet blocks aim to prevent public unity—ironically revealing their fear. As the economic tide recedes, the backward and brutal nature of this political system is fully exposed. This is both the moment of public awakening and the beginning of regime disintegration.”

He concluded: “When things reach the extreme, they reverse. Though the current situation brings hardship to ordinary people, it marks an important historical turning point. The moment of change is accelerating.” △