Social Stability - 17. page

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that government statistics showed that, in 2022, the number of new urban laborers in need of employment in China will reach around 16 million, a new high for recent years. Of those 10.76 million are college graduates. That is the highest number in history. On April 7, Vice Premier Hu Chunhua presided over a symposium on the employment situation. He pointed out that, at present, because of the Covid pandemic and other factors, the employment challenge is “complex and severe.” Zeng Xiangquan, director of the Employment Research Institute of Renmin University of China, found that after the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, the proportion of college graduates choosing “slow employment” increased, and more graduates took the initiative to withdraw from the labor market. Now the supply of postgraduates is increasing, but employers are facing difficulties, which will push up the current unemployment rate. 2022 could be the most stressful year ever for college graduates. Just as the number of college graduates has reached its peak, the number of traditional employment “placement services” that help on the demand side has shrunk significantly. The industries hit really hard were real estate, education and training, as well as the Internet. Large-scale layoffs occurred in many mega information technology companies. In the financial field, since 2017, strengthening government supervision has become the main focus of the financial world. While deleveraging and reducing risks, the financial industry has slowed down and the employment opportunities in the industry have also declined as a whole. Private enterprises have contributed to 80 percent of China’s job market. However, due to a number of factors such as the pandemic and a reduced demand, the number of employees,  especially from small, medium and micro enterprises, has dropped significantly. In reality, the structural contradictions are more severe than the contradiction between supply and demand. With the change in young people’s career preferences, the mismatch of “workers who can’t find work, and businesses that can’t find workers” will worsen.

Source: NetEase, April 14, 2022
https://www.163.com/dy/article/H4UCOMTM051480G7.html

The lockdown of the city of Shanghai has given rise to a great deal of public discontent. Many people are using social media to express their frustration due to the shortage of supplies and the dysfunction of Chinese government. The popular microblogging platform Weibo has blocked several trending topics related to this issue over the past few days, including even the first line of China’s national anthem,  March of the Voluntary Army, which reads “Rise up, people who do not want to be slaves.”

It is not the first time Beijing have blocked content from the national anthem. The death of Dr. Li Wenliang, the “whistle blower” at the beginning of the Wuhan outbreak in 2020, triggered outrage among netizens against the authorities. At the time, the same anthem lyrics were blocked for “containing radical current affairs or ideology.”

Western observers and journalists are caught between laughter and tears over the Chinese censors’ move.

Tim Culpan,a Bloomberg journalist tweeted, “Patriotism in China is a tricky balance.”
Henry Gao, a professor from Singapore Management University asked, “So when will the whole national anthem be censored?”
While Financial Times reporter Eli Meixler thought it “Unreal,” American economist Chris Balding commented, “Revolutions always eat their creators.”

Source: Voice of America, April 18, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-on-twitter-national-anthem-cencored-20220418/6534587.html

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that, according to statistics from the Office of National Film Special Fund Management Committee, during the 2022 Qingming National Festival Period (April 3 – April 5), the total box office revenue in China was RMB 122 million yuan (around US$19.15 million). Last year, the box office total for the same period reached RMB 820 million yuan (around US$128.7 million). Except for the full shutdown of theaters in the same period in 2020, this result is the lowest box office number for the same period in the past decade. Statistics also showed that the total number of screenings in the Qingming Festival Period was 627,900 this year. The figure was nearly halved year-over-year. The number of movie-goers reached 3,420,200, only one-sixth of what it was for the same period last year. A number of factors are involved. Behind the bleak box office is the sluggish theater operating rate and the withdrawal of films. Nearly half of the theaters across the country were closed because they were affected by the spread of Covid-19. The operating rate of theaters in the major movie markets in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong and other regional markets was less than five percent. This was especially so for the theater operating rate in Shanghai which was zero. The State Film Administration issued a notice that all theaters in medium and high-risk areas will not be allowed to open for the time being. Affected by this order, a large number of movies were withdrawn. Under the brutal market environment, theaters have been forced to turn to another business. There are regional projection operators who switched to the food catering market. Local governments are providing subsidies to the industry to help sustain it.

Source: Sina, April 6, 2022
https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/hyyj/2022-04-06/doc-imcwiwst0206810.shtml