The Border Is Closed, There Is No Way Out, Panic Everywhere!! Can't Survive Here, Can't Escape Either, What Is the CCP Planning? Qiqi Baba TALK Episode 977, 20260922

This episode explores the phenomenon of China's domestic economic downturn, employment difficulties, and citizens choosing to go abroad to make a living. Multiple workers and interviewees shared the reality of low wages and involution, while pointing out that current restrictions on issuing Chinese passports, stricter customs interrogations, and the tightening of visa and immigration policies by some overseas countries have made it increasingly difficult for Chinese citizens to leave the country and make a living overseas.

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Hello everyone, welcome to Qi Qi.

If China is really as good as some people say, why are so many people still emigrating to the United States?

Chinese.

As for China, aren't you also Chinese?

I am also Chinese.

I am from Changchun.

My name is Jiao Jiao, I am from Hunan, China.

Ah, Hunan, are you here for tourism? Here to visit?

Um, come, I am here to travel and look for a job, wanting to find a job here.

Ah, you also want to find a job? Yes, me too, me.

You too.

Yes, yes, yes, I also want to find, I also want to find a job.

Nowadays, there are plenty of people working in domestic factories making three to five thousand a month. Poor people should go abroad to work, because only going out is our only way out.

Why are more and more people going abroad now? The reason lies in the fact that the domestic reality is indeed not very good. First of all, I do not recommend that everyone should go out, but the current environment is that there are many people and few jobs, and the jobs available pay little. However, consumption has not decreased at all. Although going abroad to work means leaving one's hometown, it is all for the food and clothing of the family, otherwise who would be willing to run outside?

Those who don't have a passport yet, hurry up and get your passport processed! Many places already require an invitation letter to process a passport for you. Although processing a passport is a right that citizens should have, it is no longer so simple to process a passport in many provinces, but increasingly difficult. Therefore, do not complain about visas being difficult to process anymore, many people can't even get the booklet, or it is confiscated by their unit. So if you have the ability, conditions, and this awareness, it is also recommended to get a booklet from another country as a backup.

I am here to process this passport replacement now, I lost it. I will replace a passport, and it will be convenient for me to travel abroad in the future, right?

Have you written down the itinerary, which country you are going to, and when you are going? Later, based on this itinerary, the most suitable one for you.

Hey, you, you can't be like this, right? Where am I going?

Things like travel, you originally said you were processing a passport to travel, right? We processed it for you in 2023, and then you didn't go, and now you say your passport is lost, right? Now the clear regulations for processing a passport require that you must have a clear reason for leaving the country, a reasonable reason for leaving the country, and provide documents consistent with the application reason.

Do you know I will apply when the time comes? You, you, you.

You say it, just write down the itinerary. Now you write your itinerary clearly? Where are you going?

Then now, I first need to process the passport.

Just write down your itinerary. If you are processing a passport now, you need to write down your itinerary, the specific itinerary clearly. The country's laws now stipulate the reasons for leaving the country. Processing a passport must have a reason for leaving the country, a reasonable reason for leaving the country, and relevant materials consistent with your reason.

I want to speak up for our folks in the Northeast, whether men or women. The economy back there is poor, and you can't make money; everyone has to struggle hard. Friends and relatives around me in the Northeast all have a certain high chance of going abroad for labor. Why go abroad? Isn't it still to support the family, going abroad to make some money, gritting your teeth, bringing this money back after eight or ten years, and living a good life with your wife and children? So I.

Let me ask you, let me ask you something.

Hey, hello, hello.

It's just this, for you guys delivering food, roughly compared to China, how much can you make a month? Just a comparison.

It's better than in China.

Ah! No, no! To put it low-key, to put it low-key, roughly how much?

A week.

A week, how much a week?

Hear that.

Two, two thousand, huh?

Uh, around there.

Two thousand a week! Uh. Put that way, that's over forty thousand.

It kind of subverts my worldview, is this for real or not? Going abroad this year has completely changed its flavor. Going out ten years ago was to make money abroad, spend it in China, save some money after working hard for a few years, and then bring the money back. Now it's different; the ideas of people going abroad have changed, especially younger friends. The high or low income abroad has become secondary; they all want to go to places where they can bring their families and get status. Once they get status, they stay abroad and don't come back. A part of these people are worn out by the rat race in the domestic workplace, not wanting to live so tiringly. Why is there even more? Actually, it's considering the future of the children, not wanting the children to walk the same old path again. You guys are going out?

Friends, have you felt recently that getting a passport and going abroad to work is becoming increasingly difficult? That's right, the policies have indeed tightened. Now, whether going abroad to work or study, you must have a certificate issued by a company with overseas labor dispatch qualifications. It is basically impossible for an individual to casually process a passport and go out.

Now many regions in China no longer issue passports; they are locked down.

Chinese people are either processing visas or on the way to process visas. Because in this world, some people's passports are laissez-passers, while others' passports can only be application forms. Other people buy plane tickets, book hotels, and pack luggage to go abroad on a whim. We Chinese people going abroad, hey, first prove who you are, then prove you have money, and then prove you will definitely come back.

Hong Kong has returned to China for a full twenty-eight years, but there is one thing I still can't figure out: after people from various countries arrive in Hong Kong, Canadians can stay for ninety days, Americans can stay for ninety days, British people can stay for ninety days, Germans can stay for ninety days, French people can stay for ninety days, and New Zealanders can stay for ninety days. Then why can we mainlanders only stay there for seven days? Why on earth is this? Do you guys know what is going on?

Hello everyone, Master Lin has traveled to many countries and summarized one experience: working for one year in Australia is equivalent to working for five years in China. That means you shorten your youth, lifespan, money-making period, and labor period. Two years, working in Australia for two years is equivalent to working for ten years in China. You say, if you work in Australia for five years, it is equivalent to working for twenty-five years in China.

Today someone asked me if working in South Korea makes money or not. The answer is definitely yes. South Korea is currently very short of labor, and there are many places where no one does the work. However, working here means you must be mentally prepared, because there will be endless work and endless hardship. But the work you do is definitely proportional to your income. Um, working as a waiter here, the monthly income is also around fifteen thousand.

Then thank you for your hard work. May I ask a few questions? Say it, please say it, how old are you this year?

I am like this.

Fifty-three, then you, how much do you make a month working?

Thirty-something, moving forward to.

Is there a rest day?

No rest.

No rest?

Um.

His month is.

Thirty days working thirty days, thirty-one days working.

How much is his monthly salary? Monthly salary.

Just over two thousand.

Just over two thousand, specifically around two thousand two, about two thousand two hundred.

Well, every time I post a video about working abroad, there are always comments like: "Oh, you're just going abroad to do menial labor. You're just doing the dishwashing or waitressing that the locals don't want to do. Why are you so proud of it? Buy, buy, buy, listen to the Bodhisattva! Is your job that decent? How much do you earn? A monthly salary of 3,000 or 4,000? Sometimes I really can't stand these people! How many years has it been since Chinese people have had enough to eat, and they've already started looking down on live streaming and working abroad. So today, I'm going to seriously answer why I'm still willing to work abroad even if it's a menial job. The most important thing, of course, is the money." No matter what job you do, there is a minimum hourly wage, and everyone's salary is basically about the same. Sometimes, blue-collar wages are even several times higher than white-collar ones, especially in skilled trades like auto repair and carpentry, where the hourly wage can reach 60, and with 40 hours a week, that's about 35,000 a month. As for waitressing and the like, because there is a minimum hourly wage of 23.5, it's about 13,000 a month. Just in terms of salary, why do you look down on others? Others can earn 10,000 or 30,000 doing these jobs, but you, with your "decent" job in China, how much can you earn?

After the Chinese New Year next year, a large number of people will go abroad to make a living. It's not New Year yet, but a large number of people have already returned to their rural hometowns to sleep! There's no future in the cities now; many physical businesses can't survive, the involution is profitless, not to mention the large number of young or middle-aged people who can't find jobs. Now, Auntie Wang at the entrance of the village hasn't had any activity in her house for several years. A whole street in the county town is full of "shop for transfer" signs, the leather factories have shut down directly, the building materials market has more sales clerks than customers, and the furniture mall has turned into an exhibition hall. There are actually only two ways out for tomorrow: either go back to your hometown to lie flat and endure with low costs, or go abroad to venture out.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for our countrymen to go abroad. Some countries have even closed their doors directly. Now the United States is preparing for large-scale retroactive investigations. Not just the US, this year Japan's business management visa investment amount has skyrocketed from 5 million yen to 30 million yen. Not only that, companies must hire locals, pass the Japanese N2 test, and the office cannot be one's own home. Why is it suddenly so harsh? Because some people previously registered shell companies, faked cash flow, got permanent residency, and then closed down and ran away. As a result, Japan got angry and plugged all the loopholes. Even more outrageous is that Australia's business immigration has always been popular, but some people played the trick of fake business and real immigration, and even collected welfare. Now Australia has permanently closed the business immigration channel, and now even tourist visas and student visas have been tightened, and the Chinese passport has been downgraded directly from Tier 1 to Tier 2. Why is it always the law-abiding people who get hurt? Because once trust is broken, they can only use a blanket approach. You might not immigrate, but you still need to apply for visas for studying abroad, tourism, or visiting relatives. When integrity is overdrawn, each of us will face higher walls and more expensive tickets.

Is it really strict to leave the country now? Yes, very strict. This is my personal experience. I just returned from Japan last week. When I left, they asked very, very detailed questions. It can be said that everyone was asked. When it came to me, they asked who I was with, how many people, where I was going, when I would return, and even which travel agency I used—they asked everything. This is my experience. Also, work visas are asked about in great detail. You see, I didn't expect this either. Work visas are now asked about in such detail, so I'm giving everyone a heads-up: have money.

Why have people been going abroad recently? They say there are fewer people in Shanghai, many people have gone abroad, and many people in Beijing have immigrated and gone abroad.

Have you noticed? Why are there fewer and fewer foreigners in China now, while there are more and more Chinese overseas? Although the number of Chinese in Japan has exceeded one million, the number of Japanese in China is less than 100,000, not even one-tenth. You see, the number of people from countries like South Korea and the UK in China is also continuing to decline. In an international metropolis like Shanghai, the number of foreigners has decreased by nearly 50,000 in ten years. But on the other hand, a large number of Chinese are moving out. There are nearly 400,000 Chinese workers making a living in Japan, and more than 100,000 Chinese employed in South Korea. And the 2025 Global Private Wealth Migration Report also shows that China ranks first in the world with a loss of 12,000 high-net-worth individuals. High-end talent is all moving out. There are nine Chinese in the core team of Open AI, and Chinese account for almost half of Musk's AI team. Talent is something that is truly precious; once it is lost, it is very difficult to win it back.

I'm sorry, you might not even have the qualifications to work abroad. It's really not because you don't have money, but because more and more people have been going abroad in the past three years.

Are more and more people going abroad to work now? I heard that it is very difficult to get a passport in many places. Now, they want you to provide various supporting materials, ah, it will become more and more troublesome.

In Denmark, your hour is worth 130 yuan; in South Korea, your hour is worth 53 yuan; in Japan, your hour is worth 54; in Ireland, your hour is worth 105 yuan; in Singapore, your hour is worth 43; in Hong Kong, an hour is 38; in Australia, an hour is 117; and in New Zealand, an hour is 123 yuan.

Before coming to New Zealand, I was unemployed and lying flat in Guangzhou for a year. When I first became unemployed, I tried to find a suitable job, sending out resumes every day, but after every interview, there was no news. I suspected that I was just being used by HR to fill a quota; this happened many times, being picked apart, and I didn't have much money on hand. As a girl from out of town, with no resources, no family support, and no money, I was drifting around like a stray dog. But after arriving here, from the third day after landing, I have been working non-stop every day. If I don't work for one day, I lose 700 yuan. Here, I have re-experienced the value of time; time is money. I previously had a job in Guangzhou as a basketball assistant coach with a monthly salary of 2,500 yuan, which was purely working to pay off loans; that experience was terrible. Why, even though I was working, did I live in fear of survival every day, afraid that I wouldn't be able to survive tomorrow?

I want to ask everyone, how much is your salary? Or rather, how much is the salary in your local area? Why is the salary in my hometown so low now? There is a bookstore downstairs from us that was hiring a while ago. They required working for a month without any rest, meaning 30 days of work for 30 days, for 2,000 yuan a month. The morning shift started at 10:00 AM and went until 10:30 PM, which is 11.5 hours a day. And for 2,000 yuan a month, with no rest and no one to cover shifts all day, it averages out to a little over 60 yuan a day for nearly 12 hours of work, which means it averages out to a little over 5 yuan an hour. Why do I have the impression that ten years ago, McDonald's hourly workers were basically making close to 10 yuan an hour? Have the hourly wages for workers today become so cheap? I don't know how much it is where you are, or how much your salary is, how much is the local salary where you are? Why is it so low and so cheap where I live, and why is there no rest?

Now you have to report it before going abroad! You have to report it to the local police station, go and report it.

Going abroad will become increasingly difficult. Recently, in many places, you see that even applying for a passport is under control. For example, in places like Fujian, Jiangxi, Qinghai, and Hunan, you see that the issuance of passports in these places is restricted. Some people, after using their passport once and returning to the country, are contacted by their household registration location saying they want to cancel their passport. And now, entering and exiting the country is not that easy either. Many people are persuaded to return at customs; not only are their passports and visas cancelled, but their entry and exit are also restricted. When you are leaving the country, you are interrogated and questioned. Are there many more interrogation steps added at the borders within the country now, right? Now, for many people going out, whether it's for tourism, business, or visiting relatives and friends, when we leave the border, our border personnel will ask many questions. If you have experienced it yourself, you will definitely have some understanding. During the interrogation process, they may also randomly check your luggage at any time, uh, look at your various documents, like some invitation letters on your mobile phone; these are all likely to be checked. If it is discovered that there is some sensitive information or something not quite presentable on it, then you may be persuaded to return on the spot, and even your flight tickets and visas may be invalidated at that time.

Oh, heaven is invincible! Our passport has been downgraded to Tier 2 in Australia.

Seven seven eight eight.

It's just one tier higher than Indians. It's not just Fujian, it's the whole of China that is like this. What is the reason? It's really hard to guess. It's not that people are deliberately making things difficult for us. The predecessors cut down the trees, and the descendants suffer. There are too many people running away for tourism and study, so it's not unreasonable that studying abroad and tourism are going south recently; the impact is very significant. It is worth mentioning that the path for overseas real estate investment will also be further tightened, and personal overseas consumption will also be recorded more clearly. Now there is CRS externally, and Phase IV of the Golden Tax System and foreign exchange controls internally; I can only say that the RMB going overseas in the future...

It's getting harder and harder, we can't let them run away anymore. I just looked at a set of data from an article published by Sina Finance: over half of Chinese entrepreneurs are considering emigrating to countries like Singapore, Japan, Australia, and the United States. Is this phenomenon of Chinese tycoons emigrating something that only started today? It happens every year, and as far as I know, the number of annual emigrants ranks first in the world, with no close second. Although there are no official statistics on the exact number of wealthy people emigrating each year, we can deduce from side information that at least 10,000—starting at 10,000 wealthy individuals—emigrate to other countries every year. Just think about it, accumulated over so many years, this data is terrifying because these tycoons hold the most wealth among our 1.4 billion people. To put it as an analogy, if there is 100 yuan, these tycoons might hold 70 to 80 yuan, and the remaining 20 to 30 yuan is what the rest of us, over a billion people, have to split among ourselves. Just think about it. There is only so much money, and if you make your money domestically and then take it abroad to enjoy yourselves, how are we supposed to make a living? Therefore, this trend of emigration must be stopped; otherwise, if they all run away, we'll be left here anxious and helpless, right?

It will become increasingly difficult for us to go abroad, perhaps even impossible. "The predecessors plant trees, the descendants enjoy the shade"—this is a very classic saying invented on our side. But precisely because of the people on our side, things aren't done that way anymore; instead, the predecessors cut down the trees, and fucking descendants get scorched bare in the sun. In the future, it will become harder and harder for ordinary Chinese people to go abroad, ah, ordinary Chinese people might not even have the chance to leave anymore. Brother, do you believe it?

I'm not happy. You are the second person I've interviewed who says they aren't happy. How much do you earn a month now?

Nowadays, after deducting living expenses, we only make two to three thousand yuan a month.

Ah, not much money a day. Who can work twenty-some days? Working twenty-some days makes four thousand yuan! How much money did you earn this year?

I guess I only earned a little over ten thousand yuan.

So you only managed to save a little over ten thousand yuan, right?

Enough.

National borders tightly closed, escaping is simply impossible, panic everywhere! You can't live, and you can't run away—what is the CCP trying to do? Qi Qi Ba Ba TALK Episode 977, 20260922

Where is that enough to spend? Everything is so tough now! Construction workers can't even get paid at the sites now. Do you, do you have—

Have to pay social insurance.

Social insurance, are there any of us who haven't paid? Everyone goes into social insurance.

Rural people like you.

Renting a room here.

How much is the rent? 450 a month, utilities not included. Then if you earn two to three thousand yuan, you simply can't save anything, it's very hard.

But you can't save money. This year you just can't save money.

How often do you go to a restaurant to eat? I never go to restaurants to eat, I can't afford it.

Then let me ask you, you are—

Got sick.

What do you, what do you do? When we get sick, if we get sick we just die, there's no point. Maybe when you're older, what's the point anyway? I'm saying now they talk about farmers being wealthy, farmers being wealthy.

Because.

Some individuals are wealthy, but right now, for working people like us, we will never be wealthy until we die.

How much total savings do you have?

Right now, nothing left.

Any loans?

I don't have loans. Poor people like us want to borrow money, but they won't lend it to you, afraid you won't be able to pay it back.

Have you ever gone out for tourism?

In over sixty years I've never gone out for tourism. Do you want to travel? We don't have money to travel either. If we work all our lives, working until we die, how much money can we possibly make?

Stop daydreaming, food delivery won't have peak seasons anymore, brother. I'm in the Northeast at minus ten degrees, and the unit price is the same as usual. Why? There are no orders; the moment an order pops up, it gets snatched instantly. When the background has no orders, what are they going to use to raise prices for you? Ah, what are they going to use to give you weather subsidies? Right? It's too involuted, there are too many people. Do you know how many couriers there are now? Over twenty million, brother! Last year it was only over fifteen million, that's a full quarter more!

Going abroad to work this year has become completely crazy. In 2025, the number of people going abroad has increased three to fourfold compared to the past. So why does everyone choose to go abroad to work? Is the moon really rounder in foreign countries, or is everyone just worshiping foreign things? Actually, it's none of that; it's simply because people are too poor.

Working abroad this year has completely exploded. The number of people going abroad in 2025 has surged three to four times compared to previous years. Many people are asking, why is everyone flocking to work abroad? Is the moon rounder abroad, or is everyone just worshipping foreign things? Neither. To put it bluntly, it is being forced by the reality of a poor life. Are you working? I don't have a job, and not only do I not have a job, but my husband doesn't have one either. The national gates are tightly shut, there is no way to run, and there is panic everywhere! We can't survive, and we can't run. What does the CCP want to do? Qiqi Baba TALK Episode 977, 20260922.

Neither of us has a job, I'm speechless. The storm of China's economic recession is ruthlessly sweeping through people's livelihoods, shattering the last hopes of tens of millions of low-level laborers. In the suffocating and cruel vortex of involution, shops are closing one after another, and thousands of people are fighting for meager delivery orders. Working ten-plus hours a day, sweating profusely, only to earn a low wage that barely keeps them alive—continuing to hold on to their hometown is equivalent to slowly drowning in a desperate situation. Driven to a dead end by poverty, going abroad is no longer a glamorous dream of turning one's life around, but has become the only lifebuoy to save lives and salvage a future for the next generation. Ironically, the stronger the desire to escape, the more heavily the doors to the world are slammed shut before our eyes. This is not only because of the tightening and strangulation of domestic exit policies, but also because of the cold eyes and precautions of the international community. Trapped between a dying economy and increasingly towering border walls, vulnerable laborers can only grit their teeth, feeling powerless, watching their lives be worn away in despair with no way out. Thank you all for watching. What are your thoughts on China's current economic and social situation? You are welcome to leave a comment below and share with us. If you want to continue to grasp more in-depth analysis and reports, please be sure to click subscribe, like, and turn on the notification bell. See you in the next video.

Right now, it is truly very difficult to run, because first of all, there is a threshold for going to other countries, and then the CCP is now trying every possible way to prevent people from leaving. And they will absolutely never admit verbally that they are closing the national gates; they will absolutely never admit it. But let's all watch; after this National Day and so on, the tightening of these national gates will definitely become more and more intense in actual operation. Alright, the above is all the content for this episode. If you want to support me, please join the membership channel. If you want to chat with me about other topics in real-time, you are also very welcome to join in and participate in the member live streams. That's it for this episode, see you next time.