Massive Foreign Capital Withdrawal, Beijing Has a Splitting Headache! What on Earth Did the PLA Do, and Why Are They Eating Tree Bark Again? Qiqi Baba TALK Episode 970, 20260915

The video discusses the current wave of manufacturing closures, the exodus of foreign capital, youth unemployment, and extremely low wages in China. It contrasts the false prosperity promoted by official propaganda with the dire survival reality of the grassroots population, exposing high office vacancy rates, an increase in street homeless populations, and the social reality of extreme involution.

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Hello everyone, welcome to Qiqi 88. I am Qiqi. What is this doing? What on earth did this tree do wrong? I really need to speak up for this tree; its bark was inexplicably gnawed off like this. Everyone knows what tree bark does for a tree, right? Without bark, the tree will die, so tree bark is the most important thing, yet it was treated this way. What's even more important is that the live comments drifting past left me a bit dazed. They actually seem to be serious—what on earth are you people in these comments feeling grateful for? Are you grateful for eating tree bark? First of all, I want to emphasize a fact to everyone. I don't know if this will shatter the filters for many people, but it is a fact: back in those days, many people went to be soldiers and fight in wars simply because they had nothing to eat. They were trading their lives for the silver dollars distributed by the recruitment. Very few people actually fought for some kind of ideal. To put it bluntly, enlisting at the beginning was just to get a bite to eat. I am not saying whether there were later motives of defending the country or patriotism; I'm just saying that in the very beginning, very few people went with that motive. Right at the start, it was basically just to get a bite to eat. I think friends watching my video should be able to accept this reality—it's unlikely they did it for some lofty ideal when the People's Republic of China first began. So, if soldiers were reduced to gnawing on tree bark, then basic households among ordinary people must have been in a state where people were starving to death. Of course, I am not saying that national heroes should not be commemorated, nor am I saying that one should not feel deeply moved by the act of gnawing on tree bark. Most importantly, first of all, you should be quite clear in your own mind whether the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army actually fought in the War of Resistance. In addition, commemorating revolutionary martyrs and the act of gnawing on tree bark are two completely different things. What they are doing is purely a brainwashing tactic meant to provoke a sense of guilt in China's current younger generation—people around my age, for example. It makes me feel guilty toward our revolutionary martyrs. But this kind of psychology actually completely ruins a person. Commemoration and remembrance are absolutely necessary, and we should treat the history of that period seriously. However, when actions like this are heavily promoted or when the act of gnawing on tree bark is glorified, it makes me think: does the Chinese Communist Party's military have nothing left worth remembering? Is there nothing else you did, to the point that you can only remember them gnawing on tree bark, wearing straw sandals, or lacking warm clothes? Can you only make us feel guilty and remember them through these aspects, rather than anything they actually achieved?

When Tesla raises wages, people call it malicious wage increases. Now that most foreign capital has left, let you guys also get a taste of malicious wage demands. Keep cursing online—they won't just refuse to pay wages, they'll fire you without any severance. Isn't this what you chose yourselves? I think to myself today, working seven hours for 18 RMB—yes, you heard that right, seven hours for 18 RMB. How I miss the days of working in foreign-funded factories. Domestic factories nowadays are truly a living hell; making a dozen or so RMB an hour, and you're still expected to be grateful. Life is truly so despairing. Let me emphasize: 12-plus hours a day for 13 RMB an hour. If you can't accept it, you can leave. This is just how the market is right now. Sorry, sorry, I haven't finished delivering my order yet, I really can't hold back my cough. Why is it like this again? I feel so exhausted coming to Shenzhen. I don't even have half a cry left in me; I cry a big cry every three days and a small cry every two days. I don't know what I'm crying about. I cry because things don't go smoothly, I cry because I can't find a job, I cry because I have no money, I cry about everything. Brothers, truly, I feel like I can't hold on much longer. I'm really so tired. Sometimes I wonder, I am 20 years old; why can other people's 20-year-olds be happy every day while my 20-year-old just makes me think—is this it for a single day? Sisters, would you believe it? There's actually 13 RMB an hour work in Changzhou. Haven't I entered a factory these past two days doing component packaging? If you don't exceed the quota, it's 13 RMB an hour. The job I was doing required a full output of 100 units per hour; I only managed two or three hundred in a whole day. If you don't exceed the quota, you're stuck at 13 RMB an hour. Calculated this way, it's too hard! Can this even be done? A woman doing odd jobs works a full 30 days a month, logging over 450 working hours, 15 hours a day, just for 5,000 to 6,000 RMB. Risking their lives for money, we men can't even outdo them.

Came to look at a factory today. The boss of this machining plant gave up and is planning to go back home to farm, selling everything off in a bundle. Manufacturing is truly too difficult right now. Entering September, orders have visibly decreased. For the past two years, my phone hasn't even rung, let alone getting quote requests. Now there is zero work. In an instant, things are desolate. It's been over ten days with basically no work at all. People checked in and stayed for the day, but things are going to get truly miserable from here on out. Next station: Vietnam. Moving the factory to Vietnam. Mechanical manufacturing is relocating its plant. How is the manufacturing business in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam this year? I don't know, let me show you a professional market here. The entire market is empty. I deal in TBE materials, and I originally wanted to come to a professional market to see if I could find some clients, but you couldn't find two people here with a magnifying glass. There used to be so many manufacturing plants here, but now they are closing down one after another. Not a single one made a profit before calling it quits; all of them were dragged down until they collapsed. After these bosses go bankrupt in the current macro environment, making a comeback is practically impossible—either they go work odd jobs or they go back home to farm. Now beggars and homeless people on the street are becoming more and more numerous. Back in 2023, I wondered why there were so many; by 2024, I found there were even more than in 2023. Now it's 2026, and there are even more than in 2025 and 2024. What on earth is going on? Many people will say, "How come I never see them?" You should go look under the overpasses at night, in the underpasses, parks, and those unfinished buildings; you'll see they are packed beyond accommodation. Now you can occasionally still spot a few in the city center, but for the sake of social impact—as everyone knows under the current macro environment—those relatively famous homeless settlements have all been sealed off, and areas with heavy pedestrian traffic have seen crackdowns and evictions. No one will talk about this because discussing such things is taboo in our country. Once these homeless populations are exposed on a large scale, it makes the authorities look utterly incompetent, which is not permitted under the existing system. This is how the news portrays thriving prosperity while reality remains mired in deep suffering.

On the one hand, to stimulate consumption and employment, between lowering property prices and lowering interest rates, we chose to lower down payments. Between distributing cash and distributing cars, we chose to issue documents. Between buying houses and buying cars, we chose to buy lottery tickets. Young people are even more interesting: between getting married and getting divorced, they chose not to marry; between having a first child and a second child, they chose not to have children; between raising children and supporting elderly parents, they chose to take care of themselves first; and between going to work and striving ahead, everyone chose to go burn incense at temples.

This is the work schedule for August from a certain new-energy vehicle supplier. You can see that August has 31 days in total, and this person worked all 31 days. Their average daily working hours were 15.8 hours. August 4 was the longest workday, reaching 17.5 hours, while August 19 was the shortest, yet still stood at 12 hours. Looking further above, their total working hours for August were 474 hours, and their total income was 10,428 RMB. Averaged out, their income per hour was 22 RMB. For every hour worked, they could buy a McSpicy Chicken Burger. After seeing this, I don't know what else to say, because no matter what I say next, my reach will be restricted. All I can do is read out their work stats for August again: total working hours were 474 hours, total income was 10,428 RMB, average income per hour was 22 RMB, and for every hour worked, they could buy a McSpicy Chicken Burger. I have finished speaking.

Many of our domestically made products possess strong competitiveness internationally, but that competitiveness is achieved by squeezing the labor of working people, sacrificing their working hours, and forcing them to endure endless overtime. For this

I think this kind of advantage is better off without, and we shouldn't care about this kind of competitiveness.

Now I have come to Lujiazui in Shanghai. Tonight I specifically came to check if there are any fake elements in the interior lighting of the CBD skyscrapers. It's already 8 PM, and look, the lights on every single floor are still on. Look, the lights on every floor are completely on, every room is open, so it's all manufactured from the interior perspective. Look, if I turn on the outer perimeter lights and keep the inner ones off, that effect is just made up like that—completely empty, yet the outermost lights are still on. The lighting has to be coordinated to create this illusion that it is very prosperous and bustling. Look, this Future Asset Tower, they create this lighting effect, and it is unimaginably gorgeous. If you look at it from afar, you really wouldn't be able to tell; you'd truly think the whole building is brightly lit. Actually, everyone should just take a look—it is indeed quite pretty, but don't assume that this kind of beauty means it is all that prosperous or developed. To a large extent, it is all manufactured.

They've all gone out of business, these shops are closing down one by one. It's too difficult. At least this kind of business is tough... compatriot, as we said, not even a single condition is met, nobody's around. Our Guizhou has risen up, can't even afford to drink opera tickets anymore. Fellow villagers, you tell me, what kind of business can you do without turning a loss?

A monthly salary of 3,800 to 4,500 yuan, working 10 hours a day, with a two-day weekend per month—this isn't the working condition of some remote, dying small county; this is in a district of Shenzhen. When I saw this recruitment ad, I was really surprised. There's a question: why are there so few women among the homeless on the streets? Why are they all men wandering around? Can women all afford to eat? This uncle picked up a bucket of raw leftovers; we also don't know what kind of people the government relief is targeted at. Looking at it feels quite heartbreaking. The house I live in, even though 20 people share it and it costs less than 300 yuan per person, the bed everyone sleeps on is shabby. Homeless Survival Guide: if you have no money, you do what I do. Buy a tent on Pinduoduo for 30 yuan, or go find one at a camping spot—look, I even have a picked-up tent with bricks weighing it down on top. This is still useful. For a camping spot, find a rooftop; rooftops always have these little nooks and crannies. You set it up underneath so the wind doesn't blow and the rain doesn't fall, right? Then set up a camouflage net, the shading effect is exceptionally good. So the housing is solved, but how do you get food? If you are around the Zhaotong railway station area, I'll tell you: at Jinghai Building Materials City, there is a WeChat special fast food place—things like sour soup pork trotters, Douhuafan, and those rice bowls. Their rice, along with cold tossed cucumber, shredded potatoes, and sour vegetable soup, are all placed in that lobby. You just pretend you've paid, walk in, and if someone leaves behind plates with unfinished food, you just pick them up and go over. A bowl of rice, a bowl of cucumber at night, and a bowl of sour vegetable soup with plenty of shredded potatoes—eating that is quite blissful, right? Give me two years, mother hates it, thank you.

Overall, things are quite difficult right now. The vacancy rate for office buildings here in Hangzhou is also very high. On our floor, basically everyone has moved away, leaving only our company. All these tenants have moved away; this unit also moved away, and the ones next to it have all moved out. This place used to be a livestreaming studio, but now it's completely empty too, everyone has moved away. Several companies here are also vacant; the insides are empty with no personnel, and no one is continuing to lease them. The side over here is the same—this used to be where the annual certificate people worked together, and it's all empty now. This unit here is also vacant. Right now, basically only our company remains on this floor, while all the others are completely cleared out. The more foreign capital runs away, the more miserable China's domestic economy becomes. The CCP completely disbelieved it at first, so it forced foreign capital to leave because it felt it could achieve an internal demand curve—that our domestic demand is fully sufficient, with 1.4 billion people, what can't this consume? But facts have proved that it really can't consume it. So we can just wait and see the miserable state it brings below. Alright, that's all for this episode. If you want to support me, please join the membership channel. If you'd like to chat with me, you are very welcome to join during the member livestreams; I'm also looking forward to chatting with everyone about some different topics. Well, that's all for this content, see you in the next episode.