Empty, what happened to Shanghai?! The CCP should be afraid, are they really forcing the Chinese people into a dead end!? Qiqi Baba TALK Episode 979 20260924

This episode explores the current state of Shanghai's sluggish physical economy, vacant office buildings, deserted shopping malls, and the high cost of living for its citizens. Through visiting multiple commercial districts, interviewing restaurant owners, ride-hailing drivers, delivery workers, and job seekers, the program showcases the plight of ordinary people under the waves of unemployment, wage cuts, consumption downgrades, and heavy mortgage pressures, prompting deep reflection on the overall trajectory of the Chinese economy.

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Hello everyone, welcome to Qi Qi Ba Ba Talk.

Have you noticed that recently there seem to be fewer and fewer people in Shanghai? Because we are in the hotel and small catering business, our hotel's performance, as well as that of the small restaurant, compared to last year and this year, indeed feels like the drop in people is quite obvious. Just now, a brother happened to come to our shop, and we started chatting because he works right around here. You eat at our noodle shop, including this braised pork rice shop, and he said they feel like the entire building has emptied out a lot. The surrounding buildings around us have all emptied out a lot, and the number of people suddenly decreased very noticeably, because he has been here for six years, and he feels that people are getting fewer year by year, so he doesn't know what the future will be like. Therefore, all walks of life are not easy right now, and those who can hold on are already doing amazingly well.

Today, let's take a look at the current state of the physical economy in Shanghai.

[Video Clip] You thank this zero?

[Video Clip] Shanghai at 4 AM, there are almost endless things to do, but by 5:30 there is nothing left, no work at all, because there is no way around it.

[Video Clip] No way around it. As day gradually brightens, the bosses hiring workers have all left, and they can only watch with eager eyes, calculating in their hearts how much living expense they will lose today. Around 7 AM, when it is completely bright, they begin to gradually let go of the competitive pressure, chat with each other, and playfully tease each other like children. This is probably their only social activity in Shanghai. Suffering may be inevitable, but I hope you still have a chance to have fun.

Everyone working in Shanghai actually has a very hard and bitter time, because the cost of living in Shanghai is really high. Just this portion of eggplant costs 40 yuan, whereas in my hometown it is 8 yuan, you know? I eat this portion of boiled beef, in your hometown it costs a dozen yuan, but here it costs 80 yuan, 80 yuan for a portion of boiled beef. The cost of living here is actually very high.

How many half-dead shopping malls like this are there across the country? This section should be the most popular street in this mall. Let's take a look, all kinds of big brands are here. Look on the left is Starbucks, on the right is Chagee. Look at Semir, Li-Ning. Let's look at the second floor, it's also like this.

You say this place is remote? Actually, it's alright, it's called National.

Next to the Convention and Exhibition Center, it's also very close to the Hongqiao Railway Station, so I can't help but ask: Where have all the people gone? What to do? What to do?

Take a residential compound in Shanghai as an example. Out of about 120 households, 56 are unemployed or between jobs, and the unemployment rate far exceeds the official figure of 4.2%. Just imagine for a second: empty office buildings and dead-cold shopping malls. Even master's degree graduates from 985 universities are driving ride-hailing cars, and big-tech programmers delivering food is no longer fresh news. In 2025, most unemployed people won't even be able to collect unemployment benefits. Is the ultimate destination for those drifting in Beijing and Shanghai really just returning to the countryside? Better not sign away your rural household registration (hukou), especially if you're defaulting on your mortgage.

Taking a taxi a couple of days ago, I chatted with the driver for a bit. He said that the earnings for ride-hailing and food delivery workers have dropped a lot. Large enterprises are laying people off, small companies are going under one after another, many office buildings are currently vacant, and even the office workers taking taxis have become fewer. When people get home, they start cooking for themselves instead of ordering takeout. But looking at the other side, millions of outsiders continue to pour into Shanghai. Right now, many budget hotels in Shanghai are packed with people coming from out of town to look for jobs. The subways are extremely crowded, there are people everywhere, and job markets are almost bursting at the seams as everyone is busy hunting for work. Houses in Shanghai aren't selling either, and the secondhand market looks grim. As long as you drop the price even a little, nobody even comes to look. Rich people are putting their money in the bank and refusing to spend, while those who actually want to spend have no money. Market involution is extremely severe right now. The driver found it strange: why is Shanghai still like this after the pandemic has been over for so long?

A friend of mine vented to me that he rented a commercial storefront a while ago for a monthly rent of 20,000 yuan. The peak rent for this storefront used to be close to 40,000 yuan a month. Quite a few friends joked with him, saying, "Just wait and see, 20,000 yuan will turn out to be the absolute peak of this shop's rental price." His own house is also a miserable sight—located right at the intersection of two metro lines, a five-minute walk to Line 2. It was previously listed at 16 million yuan, and now selling it for 10 million yuan is a question mark. The thought of losing 6 million yuan breaks his heart, and he can't bear to sell. But business at the shop isn't good either. Neighbors all say that local consumption in Shanghai has shifted to the urban-rural fringes, and downtown has hollowed out, reduced to spending by the elderly.

Right now, many large companies in Shanghai are laying people off, cutting wages, and downsizing, while many small companies hover on the brink of losses and bankruptcy. I had lunch with a friend today, and he said he and his wife plan to move back to their hometown to develop their careers. This might just be the last meal the two of us will ever eat in Shanghai. I froze for a moment and said, you and your wife have lived in Shanghai for so many years, will you still be able to get used to it if you go back to your hometown now? He replied that his family doesn't even dare to eat hot pot anymore, and a monthly mortgage of 7,000 to 8,000 yuan makes it impossible to breathe. Work efficiency is low, wages don't rise but drop instead, and on top of all that, they live in constant fear of layoffs. They want to sell their house, but housing prices drop every single day, and even if someone buys it, they might still have to pay the bank an extra few million yuan out of pocket. The internet talks every day about ordinary people maliciously refusing to spend, but it's not that people are maliciously refusing to spend; right now, most people's pockets are cleaner than their faces. Those internet statistics showing hundreds of thousands per capita—many of those figures are averaged out, and I'm included in that. In reality, once you add up the monthly mortgage and household living expenses, every single penny is wiped out. This is the current reality right now.

Oh my sweet lord, mister, noodles in Shanghai are unaffordable. A bowl of noodles with absolutely nothing in it—no fish, no meat, just a tiny bit of leafy greens—costs 18 yuan and you can't afford it. Time to pack up and get the hell out tomorrow, head back to your hometown, and call it quits.

Look, starting right from here, all these used to be various food stalls and influencer shops, but now all the way down, it's just empty storefronts. And behind us here is a big one. This used to be the stronghold of Shanghai youth nightlife! Next to it is Ins Fuxing Park, TX Huaihai, and right in front is Huaihai Road Ori. Anyway, several large nightclubs are right here, looking so miserable.

Overnight, many good enterprises in Shanghai have disappeared. Who knows whether they went bankrupt or moved away? Volkswagen previously closed a plant in Anting, and now Volkswagen's plant in Nanjing has also closed. Yakult quietly shut down a production line as well. There are two pieces of news: the good news is that a lot of good factory buildings have become vacant; the bad news is that many factory buildings can't even be rented out. Many factories like Anting Fangtai that used to rent for 1.5 yuan are now impossible to lease out. Places like Huating Xuhang External Steel can be rented for 0.8 or 0.9 yuan to get very good factory space. If Shanghai's urban economy is like this, other cities must be even worse. These past two years have truly been too difficult.

Look at Lujiazui right now, this economy, sigh, there are hardly any people around the Three-Piece Set. Just scattered individuals like this.

Mister.

People...

Ah! Hey.

Qi Qi Ba Ba TALK Episode 979, 20260924.

Look, including the Oriental Pearl Tower area over there.

Oh my god!

It's...

Even fewer people than in our village! Where did everybody go? Look, there's nobody here! And today is Saturday, too.

Came to Xuhui District today to take a stroll around here, and there isn't a soul on the street. How desolate can it get? At one o'clock in the afternoon, not a single person in sight. With rents in the tens of thousands, I have no idea how these merchants manage to hang on. Shanghai is not like it used to be; there's no trace of human warmth or city life left. What has happened to Shanghai? Where did everyone go?

Take a look, shops are for sale. Shops are already being sold in Shanghai! People used to rely on shops for rental income, but now, it's probably hard to collect rent because some can't even be rented out. What to do if they can't be rented? Then they have to be sold. The scariest thing is that they can't be sold and they can't be rented. The fact that shops are for sale in Shanghai shows that the economy is not optimistic. Everyone, tread carefully and cherish what you have!

Is the situation in Shanghai really that abnormal now? It is no longer the magic city we knew a few years ago. Moreover, this year, every industry is struggling to the bone. Jobs are becoming harder and harder to find, and salaries are being cut again and again. Positions paying 6,000 yuan are packed with graduates from 985 universities and returnees from abroad. The once super lively Zhongou Street night market and commercial district have all gone cold. The shops of the young ladies I know who sold clothes on Huaihai Road and Nanjing Road have all closed down, and they have all packed their bags and returned to their hometowns. Many bosses have mortgaged their properties and cars, but they still couldn't hold on and were forced to close. There are unemployed people everywhere, but the monthly rent, mortgage, and daily expenses haven't decreased at all, which is truly suffocating. Even the construction workers have no work to do. It's still a long time before the Chinese New Year, but they have all packed up early. Yang Li has returned to her hometown.

Have you noticed? Shanghai has completely changed now. I feel that Shanghai is quietly becoming poor. Look, there are fewer and fewer people eating in restaurants. Before the New Year, some people were still saying they loved Shanghai, but after the New Year, they packed their bags and ran away. A couple who used to come to my shop for meals often haven't been here for a long time. I called to ask and found out they had returned to their hometown. He said that a salary of 6,000 yuan is the norm in Shanghai, with 2,000 yuan for rent and 3,500 yuan for car loans, so the two of them are basically living paycheck to paycheck and don't dare to go out to eat at all! The era of consumption downgrading has truly arrived, and fast food costing a dozen yuan has become a lifeline for young people. In the past, there were many young people gathering in our area at night, but now there are more shops than people, and the whole street is desolate. You tell me, has Shanghai collapsed, or have the young people finally figured it out?

Today, while delivering food, I passed under this overpass and saw a tent and three electric scooters for food delivery parked there. I was very curious, so I went over to take a look. As soon as I saw the license plates, I knew they were masters. There was a small one next to them. There's another one here. What kind of people have the courage to sleep under a bridge? I really want to knock on the door and ask them for advice. The room I'm renting now is 2,600 yuan a month. I really didn't buy a house, but I've become a mortgage slave. Look at these houses. Forget it, let's just walk around outside and take a look, I won't disturb them. They probably stayed up late running orders last night. I'll bring some wine and food to visit another day and learn some experience. Rent in Shanghai is so expensive, this is quite a way to save.

It saves a lot of money! I only have 1.75 yuan on me in total! Right, so what do you do for food every day? For the past two days, I've just bought a steamed bun for one yuan a day.

Ah, that's it.

Steamed bun, just dip it in some chili oil. It's rare to see a Shanghainese person living in a place like this in Jiading. So, brother, how much is this rental room per month? This rental is 800 yuan a month. Xinjiang, you won't even be able to pay the rent next month, let alone the rent. The landlord has been asking me for electricity bills for the past two days, and I haven't paid them.

Today is my second day in Shanghai looking for a job. I've stayed in a youth hostel for two days, and my fixed daily expenses are over 100 yuan. Currently, I'm still in a state of zero income, and I don't know how many days I can hold on in Shanghai. Sigh, keep going, I can only sigh and say that Shanghai is not as good as I imagined.

This is the state of business in Hefei, uh, the current state of physical shops in Shanghai. I just looked at this row, there were nine shops, and now only this one is left, only this one is still open. And this is opposite the relatively prosperous Qibao Old Street. Just think about how business is in Shanghai now.

Brothers, do you know what the building in front of me is used for? East Asia Bank, doesn't the name sound very high-end? Judging by the name, there should be some East Asian leaders, gold-collar workers, or people like that working inside, right? Next to it is the Lujiazui trio.

The location is still very good, let's see what's inside.

Let's go, I'll take you all to visit.

I am on the seventh floor now. It's a shell, vacant—no, not a shell, everything is set up, desks and such are all in place, but there isn't a single person. It's like a display; it's all empty. These office spaces in the building are just filled with office clutter. Look here, there's no one inside. Look at this room, it's also empty. I just walked onto the seventh floor and encountered so many empty spaces. Oh, there's one company here. Oh, what's this in the middle? A lounge area, it seems. The space is quite large. An outpatient department, a medical institution, and it's medical aesthetics, damn. This entire fifth floor is a plastic surgery clinic! My god, that's fucking awesome! What kind of dental clinic is this? Are they opening dental clinics inside a bank building? And the main thing is, it seems like there's no one inside. Oh, there's a Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic here too, impressive! Oh, just a TCM clinic. It's Monday, and they've opened up inside a bank.

Chinese people.

Qiqi Baba.

Consultation room, may I ask what this place is?

Actually, up.

Hey, what do you do here?

Dalio.

Ah, Pilates is similar to yoga, right?

It has equipment.

Oh. Axing, seriously, this business model is really something! You wouldn't know if you didn't go! This is the eighth floor! What's on the eighth floor? I asked their front desk, what is the eighth floor? It's a co-working space, shared offices, one room after another, individual office spaces. People come here to rent them, one person can rent a small room to work. It feels like a one-person company! Register a company!

And the office address is in some Financial City? Some.

Some bank headquarters? You walk out and tell people, you're a proper CEO of a listed company.

In one word, incredible.

If this is a billion-dollar company, what kind of company is it? It feels like there's no one here either. My first impression is that this is for beauty treatments, right? East Asia Bank, right? Anyway, the upper floors must be filled with some very fucking awesome companies. How come there are beauty salons? Damn, let's see what kind of companies are on the thirteenth floor? Securities Co., Ltd., management consulting, asset management—these are at least somewhat relevant. Ah, this one shouldn't be, right? I feel like this one is, right? It's also empty inside, no one at the front desk. This, but there's no one inside here either. Let's see what's on the fifteenth floor? Investment, it's all investment, which is at least related to finance. They all have a piece of equipment like this in the middle of their lounge area. Wow, oh, it's equivalent to a soundproof room, very quiet, right? There's a bunch of plugs here, you can sit here for a while, do some work, it's quite nice. Ah, it is indeed very quiet, sitting here. This design is quite good, I think it provides employees working here with an environment to rest or think. What is this Mining Resources Co., Ltd.? I feel like this company might have gone bankrupt? There's no one at the front desk! Look, oh, a financial court auction notice, is this a bankruptcy auction? Judicial auction activity, it's all being auctioned off! No wonder, look inside, it's a mess on the floor.

Program: It's empty, what's wrong with Shanghai?! The CCP should be afraid, is this forcing Chinese people into a dead end!? Qiqi Baba TALK Episode 979, 20260924

Many times, really, this world might be much more of a makeshift operation than you imagine.

Shanghai used to be seen by many as the magic city—full of opportunities, high salaries, bustling commerce, and crowds everywhere you turned. But today, more and more people are starting to notice that the Shanghai in front of them doesn't really feel the same as it did a few years ago. From the feelings of restaurant owners to vacant offices in commercial buildings, and on to malls, street-side shops, and nightlife business districts, many people are saying the same thing: the crowds are clearly not as vibrant as before, business is getting harder and harder to do, and making money is increasingly difficult. Some bosses say nearby office buildings have emptied out quite a bit, some drivers report that ride-hailing revenue and delivery orders are both dropping, some people have started cooking their own meals to save money, and the young people who used to gather frequently for group dinners are becoming fewer and fewer. Commercial streets that used to be bustling now even see the awkward scene of more shops than people. What hits even harder are rents, mortgages, and living costs; a monthly salary of 6,000 to 7,000 yuan seems like enough to get by, but on one side rents, car loans, and mortgages keep rising, while on the other side salaries struggle to keep pace. Some people can't hold on and choose to return to their hometowns, some sell their homes, some keep driving ride-hailing cars or delivering food, and some even move under bridges or into extremely crude rental rooms just to save on rent. On the other side, the scene inside office buildings is even more surreal: beautifully decorated offices sit completely empty, and some financial office buildings that originally sounded very high-end now host shared offices, beauty salons, dental clinics, pilates studios, traditional Chinese medicine clinics, and all sorts of other businesses, and even judicial auction notices. But things cannot simply be explained by saying no one is in Shanghai anymore. There are still crowds on the streets of Shanghai, people still looking for jobs in the job market, and job seekers from other regions still pouring in. What has truly changed may be consumption patterns, employment structures, corporate operating pressure, and people's expectations for the future. What evokes the most emotion is not the closing of a single shop, nor the vacancy of a single building, but the fact that in this city where countless young people once desperately rushed to, people are now starting to ask: can you still actually make money if you stay? This is perhaps what truly makes many people anxious right now. Thank you for watching all the way here. What are your views and feelings regarding the current economic and social conditions in China? Welcome to leave your views in the comments section and chat with everyone. If you like our content, don't forget to subscribe to the channel, give a thumbs up, and turn on the notification bell. Thank you for your support, and we will see you in the next episode.

Now, actually, what is most empty throughout China is, in my opinion, the skyscrapers that most Chinese people have always had on their lips. Because these giant office buildings, which sprang up rapidly back then because of rapid development, are now piled up like scrap metal in the middle of China's major cities. Therefore, we shouldn't be asking what is wrong with Shanghai; we should be asking what is wrong with China. Alright, that is all for this episode's content. If you want to support me, please join the channel membership. I also especially hope to see you during both the member livestream and public livestream this weekend. That's all for this episode, everyone remember to pay attention to the community's livestream announcement time. That's all for this episode, see you next time.