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Lianhe Zaobao: Unemployment Rate among Chinese Youth Rose Significantly

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the unemployment rate among Chinese youth aged 16-24 rose to more than 20.4 percent in April, reaching a record high. The same number was 19.6 percent only one month ago. Chinese officials admitted frankly that structural problems in employment are still relatively prominent. The number of college graduates hit a new high this year, and the unemployment rate among young people remains high too. Stabilizing and expanding youth employment still “requires continued efforts.” Since 2020, the bottom of the youth unemployment rate curve has been rising. This also means that, excluding cyclical and structural factors, the overall youth unemployment rate has been consistently on the rise. A high unemployment rate just shows that there is a problem with the supply of jobs. The decline in job supply is essentially caused by economic growth that has not met expectations. In recent years, the number of college graduates has continued to rise. Coupled with the unemployed groups left over from the past few years, the number of college students seeking jobs will continue to increase in 2023. This “snowball” effect of employment pressure is obvious. At the same time, the mismatch of skills and preferences increases the difficulty of employment as well.

Sources:
(1) Lianhe Zaobao, May 16, 2023
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20230516-1395140

(2) Tencent News, May 16, 2023
https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20230516A044CQ00

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability

RFI Chinese: Hong Kong Government Removes Books from Public Libraries

Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition recently reported that the Hong Kong government asked all departments to strengthen the protection of national security. The Hong Kong public library system has removed many books from the library. This has included books by at least four former Legislative Council members and scholars belonging to the moderate democrats. In addition it has included the well-known late pro-democracy veteran Szeto Wah. The public library system, which is operated with public funds and managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, has refused to reveal the number of books removed from shelves due to national security concerns. Some commentators worry that this may be the beginning of the “Hong Kong Cultural Revolution.” A Ming Pao investigative report found that, since the end of 2020, the newspaper’s collection of materials in public libraries has been consolidated, among which 468 audio-visual materials and books involving political themes and figures have been taken off the shelves. At least 195 items, that is, 40 percent, have been removed in the past two and a half years. 96 of them, which accounts for nearly half of the total number of removals, were removed in the past year. The subject matter of many removed books has nothing to do with national security. The authorities seem to be searching and removing books from the shelves based on the author’s name. Some local commentators are worried that the frontline bureaucrats of the Hong Kong government do not understand Chinese politics. They only know how to carry out orders involving a book list and a few names.

Source: RFI Chinese, May 15, 2023
https://bit.ly/3IvTInT

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

The Chinese Government Refused to Help Its Citizens Who Were Kidnapped to Work as Slaves to Conduct Telemarketing Fraud

Some Chinese and Taiwanese were enticed to go to Southeast Asian countries for work and were then kidnapped there and forced to conduct telemarketing fraud against the Chinese people. Recently Little Chen, a man trapped in Myawaddy, Myanmar, called Radio Free Asia (RFA) to help. An RFA reporter spent a month attempting to contact various authorities in China to request help for him, but not a single office extended a hand.

Little Chen was from Hunan Province. He and two other fellow Hunan residents were sold by kidnappers to the East Wind Park in Myawaddy. He said that over 1,000 Chinese were working as slaves at that park. The slave master asked for US$30,000 to give him his freedom, but his family did not have the money. The slaves were closely monitored and were not allowed to contact their family members or friends for help.

Somehow Little Chen’s friend managed to contact his family in Hunan. His family reported the situation to the Hunan police, but the police took no action and instead, asked him to come back to China and warned that he would face criminal charge if he did not come back soon.

An RFA reporter tried to contract China’s Embassy at Myanmar, but none of the calls to listed public phone numbers went through. The reporter then contacted the Hunan Provincial Police Bureau, but the officer there rejected the request for help. The reporter contacted the office of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was told to contact the diplomat security bureau. The reporter contacted the diplomat security bureau, but the bureau staff said this was not their responsibility. The reporter contacted China’s Embassy in Thailand, since Thailand was just next to Myawaddy. The embassy referred the reporter to contact the Chinese Consulate General in Chiang Mai. The consulate told the reporter they knew that many Chinese were trapped in Myanmar, but said it was outside their scope. Only if those Chinese came to Thailand could they help. However, they do not suggest that they cross the Thai border since that is illegal. The reporter asked the progress of the joint effort to clean-out the telemarketing fraud by China, Myanmar, and Thailand; but the consulate staff said there is no such thing at all.

Little Chen has been losing his hope.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 5, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/myanmar-05052023125339.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics Social Stability

HK01: China Ranked Lower in World Press Freedom Index

Popular Hong Kong online media HK01 Network recently reported that, May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released the World Press Freedom Index 2023. Among the 180 countries and regions in the world, Mainland China hit a new low with 179th as the second lowest. Taiwan ranked 35th, up from last year’s 38. Hong Kong ranked 140th. The index is scored based on five indicators including politics, law, economy, society, and security in various regions, and through questionnaires from journalists, scholars, and human rights activists. The total score is obtained by quantifying and counting incidents of journalists and media being violated. Norway ranked first with a score of 95.18, followed by Ireland and Denmark. According to RSF, the bottom three places in this year’s ranking are all Asian countries, namely Vietnam (178th), China (179th) and North Korea (180th). It was the first time China had fallen to such a low ranking since the survey began. Over the past year, the rhetoric and approach of the Beijing government’s propaganda has become closer and closer to that of North Korea. In 2002, RSF released the Press Freedom Index for each region of the world for the first time. Hong Kong was ranked 18th at the time. In the following 21 years, Hong Kong’s ranking suffered a freefall to the 140th today.

Source: HK01, May 4, 2023
https://bit.ly/3AXJjNI

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Suicide Cases Are More Frequent In China

Suicide cases have been reported more frequently as the political and economic environments continue to deteriorate in China under the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) rule.

On April 25, a male from Linyi City, Shandong Province bought a knife at a convenient store and then cut his own throat right there.

On April 23, a man jumped out of a shopping mall in Shanghai and died. His body also hit and injured a woman who was shopping at the mall.

On the same day, two 5th grade girls from Xiangtan City, Hunan Province jumped out of a high building.

On April 20, three people came to a tourist site in Shifang City, Shandong Province and drank poison to commit suicide.

On April 4, four people from different provinces gathered at Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, a famous mountainous site in China, took poison and then jumped off the cliff.

Source: Aboluowang.com, April 27
https://www.aboluowang.com/2023/0427/1894748.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

CNA: Employment Rate of Shanghai College Graduates is 32 Percent

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that China’s employment situation is grim, and college students are frequently found unable to get a job. Lates statistics showed that in Shanghai, China’s most prosperous city, the current average employment rate of fresh graduates from colleges and universities is only 32.8 percent. According to government official announcement, the number of college graduates in Shanghai this year reached 236,000, a record high. On March 16, the Shanghai authorities launched the spring employment promotion campaign, and intensively held employment and internship job fairs. Many Chinese netizens called the employment status of this year’s fresh graduates “disastrous.” A netizen said that 20 out of 30 people around him were preparing the entrance exams for civil servants. Last year’s data showed that, even the top universities in Shanghai are facing challenging employment situation for their students. Shanghai Jiaotong University, which ranks first in science and engineering, has a rate of only 65 percent among fresh graduates who obtained employment agreements. Fudan University, the strongest in literature category, had more than 65 percent of graduates last year going on to further studies, 21.42 percent were employed, and 13.8 percent were unemployed. Some observers expressed the belief that, this is the reality of college students. There is really no good place to go in the society. China’s industrial upgrade has failed.

Source: CNA, April 15, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202304150200.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability

Chinese Schools and Kindergartens Close Down as Birth Rate Drops

China’s Primary Schools Dropped by 80,000 in 10 Years. According to data recently released by China’s Ministry of Education, there were 149,100 primary schools in 2022, compared to 229,000 in 2012, a decline of 79,900 or 35 percent.

The chances of any improvement seem slim. In 2022, there were 289,200 kindergartens in China, a decrease of about 5,600 compared with the previous year.

Behind the decline in the number of kindergartens and primary schools in China is the sharp drop in the number of newborns.

According to data released by the CCP this year, there were 9.56 million newborns in China in 2022, with a birth rate of only 6.77‰ and a natural growth rate of -0.60 percent. This is the first time since 1950 that the annual birth population has fallen below 10 million. CCP data show that China had 10.62 million newborns in 2021, 12.02 million in 2020, and 14.65 million in 2019.

According to the “China Statistical Yearbook 2022,” 13 of the 31 provinces and municipalities directly under the Chinese central government had negative population growth, namely: Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, and Sichuan.

Analysts observed that China has a history of not releasing actual figures, but one can see a trend from the statistics it does release.

Source: Epoch Times, April 5, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/23/4/5/n13965673.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability