Jiangxi Workers' Uprising, Is a Great Revolution Coming?! Beijing State-Owned Enterprises Can't Hold On Either, Even Eating a Full Meal Is Difficult, What Are You Waiting For?! Qiqi Baba TALK Episode 1019 20261103

This episode explores China's current severe economic and employment environment. Through specific cases such as workers at a Jiangxi factory launching protests due to successive wage deductions, employees at a central state-owned enterprise in Beijing lamenting office environments and stalled business, and white-collar workers in Shanghai facing severe layoffs and job hunting difficulties, it reflects widespread phenomena including local fiscal deficits, grassroots people struggling for food and clothing, and the decline of economic vitality.

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In Jiangxi, workers at a factory really couldn't take it anymore; this genuinely looks like an uprising and a rebellion.

Because of social security reasons or factory efficiency, they gave no explanation and continuously deducted wages for two months, so the workers couldn't sit still. In September, 2,000 was deducted, and in October, another 1,000 was deducted from everyone. That is to say, the workers at this factory now only make 2,500 a month, and this factory offered no explanation whatsoever—completely refusing to tell you, completely refusing to tell you, directly and forcibly deducting it without issuing your pay. This matter is barely visible anywhere inside the firewall. Every time this kind of thing happens, the Chinese Communist Party government stays silent. In fact, I've mentioned before that even if you have a job inside the firewall, you can't necessarily keep it. Uh, and then if you graduate and look for work, you can't find a job. If you find a job, hey, the work feels quite stable, and this job lets me keep going without firing me, you still might not get your salary on time. If you do get your salary on time, there's a high probability it will turn into a very, very low salary. Basically, it's just this kind of cycle. Making money inside the firewall right now is truly too difficult. Making money here doesn't mean making a fortune.

Rather, it's about making that absolute bare-minimum basic income to sustain a basic life! That's what I mean when I say making money is difficult; I'm not talking about getting rich, just maintaining a basic livelihood is already far too difficult inside the firewall.

[Video Clip] I am thirty-four years old this year, and I have been working in a state-owned enterprise for more than ten years. The macro environment this year really feels different. Well, I think everyone understands what is going on. Well, what I want to ask is, from which event did you realize that the macro environment this year is getting harder and harder? Even though people say this every year, I will speak first. Uh, I feel it started from the office becoming quieter. That's right, there are not as many sounds in the office area; the volume has simply dropped. What was the situation like in the past? Well, after most people arrived at the unit around eight or nine in the morning, right? They would go to the pantry to brew some tea, then make coffee, maybe use the restroom, or chat about gossip with colleagues. Around nine-thirty or ten in the morning, some people would start making business calls, right? That is, they started doing business. Uh, whether they made calls proactively or passively, I knew back then, oh, this means entering the work state, and everyone is starting to work. Now it is the peak period for business processing, or there is some communication among colleagues, right? Uh, discussing a business matter here, chatting and communicating with each other. There is dialogue, there is volume, and many people even secretly play stocks, right? Hey, the market is doing pretty well today, hey, they might be very happy, and then their state is also good, right? At least when they speak, communicate, and interact, their volume is normal. Um, this is a bit off topic, and we can discuss this separately later. Yes, that is, when working in the office in the past, generally around ten o'clock in the morning and two or three o'clock in the afternoon, those were the peak periods for business processing, and there were many people's voices. But now, and this year, my direct feeling is that the office area is becoming quieter and quieter. Even if you have some colleagues who used to be very outgoing, uh, whether they pass by or whatever they do, there is always some sound, but they also feel like they have become quieter and don't like to talk anymore.

[Video Clip] And now there is almost no one actively initiating business or making phone calls, and even some passive business calls have decreased. You know, including WeChat, uh, in my WeChat, over so many years of accumulation, I have about nearly two thousand contacts from cooperative units. In the past, even if I did nothing, I would still receive a lot of business messages on WeChat every day. The feeling this year is particularly obvious: when you communicate with people from these cooperative units, you find that no one has that kind of extra politeness anymore. Everyone defaults to knowing what's going on, which is to get straight to the point. And you can feel that the other person, or we ourselves, just want to get this matter resolved, and we don't want to talk nonsense. So this is a very direct daily feeling of mine on a workday. Uh, some people might say, when you talked about consumerism previously, and when you talked about drinking previously, it's because you are old and have reached that age. Uh, but judging from the workplace environment around me personally, the unit hasn't recruited many people in recent years; in the past two years, only two or three young people joined, and I didn't feel that they had the vitality that young people should have. Uh, what was that term called? It's the vibe of a living person. You could say older employees and older colleagues have a vibe of being living people, but some new colleagues give the same feeling. Yes, I was thinking, when I started working back then, uh, there were many colleagues who joined at the same time. Um, isn't there a term called first-generation colleagues? That is, everyone joins together, nobody engages in internal strife, and they might even become good friends. If someone resigned, it would be quite sad because you wouldn't have a work buddy in the unit anymore. Do people know what is going on here? Actually, it's just that the macro environment is not good. Uh, but at least I didn't have such an obvious direct feeling before, but this year the feeling has indeed become different.

[Video Clip] And then I saw that the Ministry of Finance issued a document in March, which further increased the proportion of annual profits that state-owned enterprises turn over to the state. What does this mean? Younger friends might not understand. The total wage budget of state-owned enterprise units is fixed, which means there is only this much money, right? Who gets a bit more and who gets a bit less, you evaluate and distribute it internally. To say that everyone gets a wage increase is impossible. And now the new requirement is that the proportion to be turned over has increased, right? You can understand it as the tribute money has become more, and the revenue target of the unit, right? It grows every year, but it is also very difficult to grow, so internal adjustments to the salary structure are inevitable. Some departments feel extremely uncomfortable, but unlike big tech companies, they won't give you N+1 severance cleanly. I won't elaborate on this. I believe some viewers can understand. So when I chat with friends around me, everyone has pretty much the same feeling, which is that people without jobs take the view: as long as I can find a job, I am quite satisfied. And there are still so many graduates this year, right? Maybe last year's graduates haven't found jobs yet, and this year so many more people come all at once.

[Video Clip] Indeed, and I have also observed one thing—well, of course, many friends might think, you are in Beijing, right? Beijing is the capital, so maybe things are still okay there? But, if you go take a look at the office rentals in Wangjing, Beijing, go look at the rentals in SOHO, go look at the retail sector in The Place, I believe local friends will understand as soon as I say it, right? There are fewer people, yes, the crowds have truly shrunk. Take the area around Wudaokou for example—it is packed with universities: Beijing Forestry University, Beijing Language and Culture University, China University of Geosciences, China University of Mining and Technology, Tsinghua University, Peking University. The bars in Wudaokou used to be so bustling, wave after wave of students coming every year, and on weekends, the sidewalks were packed with people. But what does it feel like if you go there now? Sanlitun doesn't count—there are a lot of tourists there after all, people coming from all over the country every day, which is a kind of survivorship bias. Well, so this is what I, a 34-year-old working at a central state-owned enterprise in Beijing, have genuinely felt. I believe if there are similar groups of people, they should resonate with this. I talk a lot and have said so much, but in the end, I still want to ask that question: which specific incident made you realize that the overall environment this year is getting harder and harder?

Working at a central state-owned enterprise has actually been viewed by many as being as stable as a government job (inside the system). But in reality, when the central government budget runs into trouble or the societal economy faces issues, central state-owned enterprises will definitely be the first to face cutbacks. Because compared to a official government post, this job is not as stable as imagined. So what is the key point? The key point is that central state-owned enterprises will lay off staff, and jobs at central state-owned enterprises are also hard to find. If jobs are hard to find in Beijing, what about Shanghai? Finding a job in Shanghai is even harder.

[Video Clip · Former Big-Tech Employee] Is it hard to find a job in Shanghai in 2026? Let me give the conclusion first: very hard. Not only is job hunting very hard, but corporate survival is equally difficult. Our company started laying off people last October, and the high-level architecture also underwent drastic changes. I was not spared either and welcomed a new leader. This new leader was quite emotional at work, liked being flattered, and was rather arrogant. Working under him, you didn't know the direction or what you were supposed to do. Since I am naturally straightforward, not good at flattery, and unwilling to deliberately cater to or kiss up to others, unfortunately, I got into conflict with him and was put on his blacklist. Whenever I wasn't around, he would badmouth me to every single colleague. My colleagues would tell me about it and even have meals with me, so I just treated it as a joke. What followed was that my position was publicly posted for recruitment, my workstation was moved from the core area to a peripheral corner, and I went through dark moments of being marginalized at work, even facing the threat of being laid off at any time. But I was also very lucky. Because his relationships with heads of various departments and even the big boss of the company were very tense, arguments often broke out in meetings. In the end, a very dramatic scene occurred: in this silent game of tug-of-war, before I even received a layoff notice, he left the company first. So during this agonizing period, I was able to see through the current job market completely. Because in March and April, I submitted at least 100 resumes—close to 200 if you count the Liepin platform—and interviewed with no less than ten companies. Three to four of them showed strong intent, but I rejected them all. Why? Because you would find that the quality of the new jobs offered no advantage over my current one. Single-day weekends, frequent business trips, over two hours one-way commute—or on the surface, the salary seemed up to par, but in reality, the base for social security contributions was set very low. These factors crossed over each other; traps were everywhere. So the so-called "Golden March and Silver April" recruitment season was a complete fake peak season this year. There were indeed positions released in March and April, but the headcounts (HC) were extremely small, and most were just filling vacancies left by resignations, low-paying posts, outsourced posts, and single-day weekend posts. Layoffs far exceeded expansion, and job quality plummeted off a cliff. At first, I only targeted big tech companies and submitted tailored applications for specific posts. In the end, seeing no hope, I just sprayed my resume everywhere without considering whether it was a big company or not. Yet the interview rate was only about 10%, and the probability of getting an offer was only 3%. So if your resume lacks highlights, has no big-tech background, your verbal expression is slightly lacking, and you don't have the backing of a 985 or 211 university degree, you will most likely get zero offers. So the employment environment right now is really bad. Shanghai is no exception. If you have a job in hand, never quit without another job lined up, and don't jump ship easily. Even if you are marginalized in the company or suffer unfair treatment, please maintain a clear-headed indifference, keep your mindset stable, hold onto your position, and endure to get your severance pay—that is the most dignified way for an adult to protect themselves.

We all know that if a city is prosperous, its jobs should become relatively easier to find, because the entire city has strong vitality and needs to operate, so during its operation, its demand for human labor will be relatively large. But once you find it difficult to find a job in this city, what does this prove? It proves that the city's vitality has already developed a major problem. Furthermore, if it is not just difficult to find employment, but even the existing job positions themselves are decreasing, then that is no longer just a decline in vitality, but the beginning of decay. Shanghai is definitely a city at the forefront of China, because we see that almost any brand event from abroad, or even art exhibitions and the like, if they are going to be held in China, their first choice is always Shanghai, the primary choice is always Shanghai. But now Shanghai, which should inherently be the most active and vibrant in China, has already begun to show a state of fatigue. That basically means the economy of the entire country is actually about to turn into stagnant water. Many unnoticed tier-2 and tier-3 cities are actually in a dying state right now. Moreover, it's not just the economy in the cities; even the finances, the local government finances, are the same, meaning the government also has huge problems. Because right now, there is not a single local government finance that is not in deficit. Previously, Shanghai could still have a surplus; places like Shanghai and Shenzhen, but these past few months they haven't been doing well either. So I really find it strange, exactly where does that stably growing GDP come from? Chinese people, everyone can't afford to eat, tightening their belts. Cities, every local finance is strained, all are in deficits, and some have already been in persistent deficits for many years, relying on the central government to provide them with some subsidies, otherwise they would have gone bankrupt long ago. Local fiscal unemployment rates, the Chinese Communist Party doesn't even dare to display them, absolutely dare not let people see them. Then the basic wages have also regressed to a state similar to over a decade ago. But under the circumstances of so many problems, the GDP is still growing, I really must call this a contemporary economic miracle!