01/11/24 - You never see real life in news.
“Anyone who’s still single at a certain age has red flags. You can try to deny it, but don’t try to kid yourself. With so much information out there in society, based on what I’ve seen, good people are quickly reserved by somebody. They might even get engaged while they’re still in school and started a family really early on. The only reason someone is still single in their thirties is one of the following:
Ugly. Poor skin. That’s an insurmountable disadvantage. Can’t be made up by anything else. No significant other would really give their heart to this kind of people.
Really bad temper, probably spoiled by their parents, or grew up in an unfriendly environment. Just really mean.
Lazy, no money but won’t work, still working a desk job in their 30s as a man, doing odd jobs, no ambition whatsoever. Same for somen.
They’re too weak as a person, can’t even talk properly, stammers, cowardly, timid. This type of person misses out on a lot of opportunities.
The most common kind, too picky, overestimates themselves, still dreaming about a Prince Charming or a Princess, totally detached from reality, not that great themselves.”
Comments say, “I’ll add another one: not that interested in being in a relationship, doesn’t wanna get married.”
“What’s wrong with desk jobs? Did a desk kill your mom or something? I’ve been working a desk job since I joined the work force. What, am I supposed to automatically graduate to physical labour at some point?”
“Anyone who insists on getting married without even meeting someone they like is the actual problematic people. Do you think everyone cares about marriage? There’s a lot more meaningful stuff in life than finding a spouse.”
“Our neighbour’s going through a population collapse. This is a national disaster for Korea.
The Korean government’s come out with the latest statistics in 2024: only 235K people were born in Korea in all of 2023, 11% less than the year before. Not only did they break a record low, they’re also sitting at the lowest birth rate in the world.
As of December, 2023, Korea has a total population of 51.3 million people, 114K less than the same time in 2022.
It’s a little unbelievable that there’s less than 20,000 births per month in a country that has 50 million people.
Due to the continually decreasing population, as Korea’s capital, Seoul’s own population has fallen below than 8 figure mark. There’s only 9.4 million people there now. No city in Korea has a population above 10 million anymore.
Internationally, only cities with more than 10 million people are considered “metropolises”. This doesn’t just represent scale of population, but also economic activity and development and culture. There are only 30 or so metropolises around the globe.
Whether for Korea as a whole or its key cities, their population trends are becoming scary: there’s fewer and fewer population in Korea, and population collapse is ever looming.
First, you can see their ever declining birthrate. The UN’s population fund’s annual report shows that Korea’s birth rate in 2022 was 0.87, lowest in the world three years running.
To keep a stable population, you need a birth rate above 2.1, but Korea isn’t just a little bit short. It’s only 40% of what it should be. Aside from war periods or during a major disaster, Korea’s birth rate is the most severe any country’s ever seen.
And secondly, you can see their scary population growth numbers. In 2021, Korea’s population grew by -2.72%. They lost 2.7 people among every 1000.
If this pattern continues, in 50 years, there will only be 36.2 million people left in Korea. And of course, everyone in Korea’s scared about this too. They all feel like this country is doomed. Even Oxford University in Britain gave out a warning about Korea’s population problem, that Korea might be the first country in this world to “disappear”. The first country to disappear without any natural disaster or war.
The most major symptom of low birth rate or negative population growth is in an ageing population.
In 2020, 15.7% of Koreans are over 65-years-old. If this pattern continues, in 50 years, when Korea’s population is 36.2 million, almost half of them will be over 65 years old. That’s when Korea will become a super ageing society.
That means that 1 out of every 2 Koreans will be old.
As the population ages and working population continues to fall, the number of people participating in the economy will decrease too.
Many schools will be forced to shut down. Based on Korea’s Department of Education numbers, as of March of 2022, 3896 schools have closed their doors in Korea. In the last 5 years, 20 something majors have disappeared from Korean universities. In 2024, in the 14 universities in Korea, 26 majors had no applicants at all.
Their economy will stop growing. Korea’s Central Bank has warned last December that if Korea can’t come up with effective policies to increase birth rates, then the Korean economy will go into negative growth in 2050.
Social security is drying up, as the labour force which pays into it shrinks, and the number of people taking pay checks rapidly increase. A situation where there are many monks and yet little porridge will unavoidably occur. And Korea’s social safety nets will no longer be able ot sustain themselves. The government predicts that Korea’s social security fund will go into a deficit in 2041 and will be drained by 2056. If there are no major reforms, people born after 1995 in Korea will no longer have any social security when they retire.
Although the Korean government’s set a retirement age, as population continues to age, this policy may as well not exist. Without young people to shoulder on society’s retired population, most old people in Korea will have to work until they’re 70 or else starve.
Right now, there are over 7 million old people in Korea who are continuing to work after reaching retirement age. They mostly work in fields that no one else is willing to, such as janitorial work. Some, who are truly unable to find any work, are forced to enter the sex industry. They’re over half a century old, and are forced to holler for customers on the street corner, exhausted and the subject of ridicule.
As birth rates continue to fall and population ages, in 30 years, Korea will be both old and poor.
Of course, we shouldn’t make too much fun of Korea. No East Asian country deserves to, because population is a problem for everyone.
Korea has 51.6 million in population, and only 235,000 babies.
Japan has 125 million in population, and only 770,000 babies.
Taiwan has 23.3 million in population, and only 130,000 babies.
Hong Kong has 7.5 million in population, and only 32,600 babies.
On the same latitude as Korea, Dongbei only has 377,000 babies in 2022. You should know that Dongbei has a population close to 100 million. By the numbers, Dongbei is even worse off than Korea.
If you convert Korea’s birth rate to China’s population, it would be like having 6.46 million babies in China per year. But based on data published by hospitals, the number of babies born this year was just 7.88 million.
So, so far, we’re a little bit better off than Korae.
But in reality, when it comes to population problems, the path we’re on and the problems we’re dealing with are all what Korea already went through.
In other words, if nothing changes, then Korea’s today will be our tomorrow.
After WWII, Korea experienced a decade of explosive population growth. In order to control population numbers, starting from the 70s, Korea began their own version of the “one child policy”, which they called “family planning”.
After a decade of this policy being in effect, Korea’s birth rate went from a high of 6.0 down to 2.8. This is an ideal population growth number, but things didn’t turn out like how the Korean government predicted. Starting from the 90s, Korea’s birth rate fell below 2. The government passed a bunch of new policies to encourage birth rates over the course of the next 15 years.
The first wave of policies increased the amount of subsidies towards childcare and education, increasing the number of institutions that can take care of children after school, and improved maternity leave terms.
The second wave of policies decreased the burden on working parents, instituting paid maternity leave, and loosened mortgage regulations for newly-weds, and increased subsidies for infertile couples.
The third wave of subsidies increased subsidies towards pregnancy, labour, infertility, and high-risk pregnancies. And they improved their public education system, alleviating how much parents need to invest in education.
Right now, they’re on their fourth wave of policies, where every family with a baby less than 1 years old will receive 300K Korean won per month (about 1800 RMB). This number will increase to 500K won in 2025. And Korea will also give out a one-time 2 million won pay out for each baby. The new policy also has a 3+3 maternity leave system, where each parent of the child can apply for a 3 month long leave, and each person can receive a 3 million won per month pay during this period, to encourage both parents to be involved in childcare.
In the last 16 years, Korea has spent 280 trillion won (roughly 1.5 trillion RMB) on stimulating birth rate, and none of it has achieved significant results. The situation has only continued to worsen, until they’re in danger of disappearing as a nation now.
As the tenth largest economy in the world, Korea’s GDP was as high as 1.7 trillion USD in 2022. GDP per capital is 33K USD (China, meanwhile, has a GDP per capital of 12.7K USD). They’ve been a developed country for a long time. Based on our understanding, developed countries always have more social safety nets, and it’s a lot easier to raise a child there than a developing or destitute nation. So logically, birth rates shouldn’t be so low.
And yet, the reality is, their birth rate keeps falling, and now they’re the lowest in the world. More and more young people don’t want kids.
The main reason young people aren’t having kids amount to: employment, housing, and education. These three enormous mountains has kept them away from dating, marriage, and childbirth.
Doesn’t that sound familiar!
So, developed countries and developing countries are the exact same when it comes to low birth rates. This is a problem we all have to face, and isn’t unique in China. And a couple of handouts aren’t going to cut it.
But then again, any policy to encourage birth rates is going to be better than none. We just can’t rely on issuing a bunch of handouts, but instead on some kind of total reform.”
Comments say, “Looking at how many feminazis and gold diggers are out on the internet, I’m more and more okay with my son never marrying and never having kids. Though I’ve already prepared a fully paid off car and house for him.”
“All the propaganda we saw growing up said China had too many people. That Earth had too many people for it to provide for. And now they’re trying to tell us to have more kids? It’s been a long since since I’ve seen any propaganda about overpopulation.”
“You can see based on the top comment here that the moment a woman starts to judge other women malicious is when she births a man.”
A tiktok video showing an excellent way to use your drone:
Comments say, “Covered in snow, the residents of the remote village shivered in fear. A great fiery dragon has appeared in the misty, snowy skies. Is this a good omen? Or is this a great demon? Follow us on this episode of—Closer to Science: Mysterious Fire Drake!” [Closer to Science was a popular TV show back in the day about giving the scientific explanation to reports of supernatural phenomena.]
“Harbin Tourism Board: Young man, we should have a talk.”
“If you cut out just the second half of this video with the dragon flying in the sky and upload it separately, it’ll become yet another urban legend on the internet.”
“Should I have my in-laws sleep in the side bedroom or our home office?
Just finished furnishing our three bedroom unit. We’ve got a 10 month old baby, and I’m wondering if I should set the side bedroom aside for my daughter or my in-laws. The side bedroom has bay windows, whereas the home office has small windows and is kinda dark. The two rooms are about the same size. As a mother, selfishly, I want to let my daughter grow up in a sunny environment. But then I kind of feel bad about my in-laws. How would you guys split it?”
Comments say, “If you love your daughter so much, give her the master bedroom and move to the home office yourself. And, what would you do if these weren’t your in-laws but your parents?”
“Why would you live together? Could you not? It’s gonna be a huge hassle.”
“When your parents come over, they can sleep in the bathroom. It’s clean and bright and there’s plenty of food there for them to eat.”
“Watching people’s vlogs on the internet. Chinese students studying abroad in the Phillipines are crying all over the internet, about how the people who went to Korea have it good. At least they have something to eat! And they know roughly what they’re eating! Their school cafeteria just regularly doesn’t have any food. They have to go out to forage. And aside from rice, you can never tell what street stalls are selling. They often have no idea what they’re buying until they’ve bitten into it.
Meanwhile, a Chinese student studying abroad in Germany is floating around like a ghost, you can feel the hate pouring off of him even through the screen, repeating to himself, “German supermarkets are closed on the weekends…German supermarkets are closed on the weekends…German supermarkets are closed on the weekends…..””
Comments say, “I honestly don’t understand any food industry business being closed on the weekends. When you’re at work, they’re at work. When you’re off of work, they’re off of work. So who the hell are their customers?”
“I like watching pig-feeding videos. And every time the uploader is cooking for his pig, there’s always a bunch of comments about how it’s better than the food in Korean universities.”
“I’m following an uploader living in India. I feel like food is the smallest of his problems. I feel like he’s definitely going to come back with all kinds of survival skills.”
“A lot of little fairies have no idea how normal human beings live. Have no idea how hard it is to buy a house in Beijing or Shanghai by yourself.
I’m not even gonna use a 6 million RMB standard unit as an example, although a 6 million RMB standard unit might as well be trash in the eyes of a little fairy. A place unsuitable for human habitation. They only look at houses that go into the 8-figure range.
I’m gonna be a bit more low key, and just look at 4 million RMB shitholes.
4 million dollar houses in Beijing or Shanghai are bound to be shitholes that are old and run down and tiny.
But if you want to buy one, even if you’ve only got a 30% down payment, that’s 1.2 million RMB right off the bat, with a 2.8 million mortgage. If you take on a 30-year mortgage, then you need to pay back 180K per year.
If you want to buy a 4 million RMB shithole in Beijing or Shanghai, just to save up the down payment, you need to not eat and not drink and not spend a cent for 6 years, making 200K a year. Or 3 years if you’re making 400K a year.
If this little fairy makes 400K a year, and spends 100K a year, saving the other 300K, it takes 4 years just to save up the down payment.
And with a 2.8 million RMB mortgage, you have to guarantee that in the next 30 years, you’ll never have to take a pay cut in order to afford that on your 400K salary.
So, are there a lot of jobs paying 400K a year in Shanghai, then?
Is that unreasonable?
If you graduate from a top university, can you make 400K a year in Shanghai?
If you’re a humanities major, forget 400K. You’ll have a hard time making 200K in Shanghai.
The internet is insane.
To the point where even though I’m talking real people and real numbers, a lot of people think I’m making shit up. I only ever tell stories that actually happened in my daily life.”
Comments say, “Little fairies tend to make 100K a year, spend 200K, and save 300K.”
“They can sell their bodies. You can’t.”
“Hmm, 4 million RMB house, 1.2 million in down payment, huh? Assuming you make 500K a year, 400K after taxes, you’ve got to pay your living expenses still, right? Rent plus groceries and utilities is gonna add up to 200K a year minimum. That’s 6 years you’re gonna have to spend saving up, at least. And then you’ve got to start paying back that mortgage, 19K a month. At this point, you really can’t afford food anymore.”
“Where the hell can you find 6 million RMB houses in Beijing? There’s only a handful at most. All the newly-built houses in Haiding District are minimum 17 million RMB.”
“The narrowest part of a chicken’s vagina is less than 1cm, and yet they have to lay eggs the size of half a fist every day. Tearing during childbirth can cause pee leakage. Vaginal deliveries can cause uterine prolapses.
In America, every time a woman has a child, their wages go down by 5%. Among women under 35, the income gap between those with children and those without are bigger than the income gap between men and women. By contrast, after having children, men tend to get an increase in pay.”
Comments say, “I mean, this is already set in stone. What can you do about it? Are you trying to encourage women to not have kids? Are you exacerbating our gender conflict?”
“Is it because after having kids, moms put more of their energy into the kid, whereas dads put more of their energy into work, so it changes their incomes?”
“Yeah, but I don’t see you giving up on eggs because you feel bad for the chickens.”
“Yesterday morning, at our regular morning meeting, our boss called out a couple of women with two kids and told them off for being bad at their jobs. Keep in mind, he only called out the women with two kids. And one of them is responsible for half the sales in this company.”
A tiktok video of several cops trying to stop a car:
Comments say, “Either he’s so drunk he’s totally out of it, or he has a more serious warrant on him.”
“He might be hiding drugs, and he has to get away and dispose of them. Can’t let the cops find it.”
“Why don’t the police shoot for their own safety?”
“If your long-distance girlfriend comes over to visit you and arrives at 6AM, would you go pick her up?
I was gonna visit my boyfriend for New Years, and he lives in Xi’an, while I live in Beijing. His work gives 3 days off for New Years.
I’m still a student and train tickets are too expensive, so I bought sitting tickets for a 13 hour ride, arriving in Xi’an at 5:45AM. My boyfriend said that if he has to come pick me up, then he has to wake up at 4AM, and told me to just get myself a taxi to the hotel, and he’ll wait for me at the lobby.
But it’s my first time to Xi’an, while the sun isn’t even up, and I’m just scared.”
Comments say, “I mean, you don’t have to visit your boyfriend, do you? Then you don’t have to be scared in the dark by yourself. I just don’t think your boyfriend likes you all that much. You should consider whether you should continue your relationship with him.”
“Just don’t go. Doesn’t sound like he’s looking forward to it.”
“From the moment he considered letting you ride in a train all night in sitting tickets, you should be considering breaking up.”
“A lot of internet citizens in China only learn about Chinese marriages through internet discussion. And so long as they really believe what they read, they’ll think China is a typical “feminist society”. That is, Chinese women are having their pick of men. I mean, look, Chinese men need a house in order to have a chance of being selected by a woman. In rural areas, the gender imbalance is even worse. If the man doesn’t stand out, isn’t an overachiever, then forget marriage. No girl will look twice at them if they don’t work their ass off.
So why would there be extramarital children in China? Enough of them that policy needs to be designed around them? That’s so fake.
But in reality, China has always been a major source of extramarital kids. The reason is simple. China has the highest marital age for women in the world. Women have to be over 20 years old in order to get married. Any woman who gives birth before 20-years-old are having children extramaritally.
Pay attention to the logic here. You have to be 20 to be married. If you have kids before you’re 20, you’re necessarily having kids without getting married. And not only do people accept this, but nobody finds this weird. And yet, in all our propaganda and news, the concept that, “A girl would never have kids with you without marrying you.” is pushed a lot. This is because the government used to wait people to wait and marry late and have kids late.
So what’s the problematic trend in the last couple of years?
It’s that what Hua Chenyu and Zhang Bichen [two famous singers] have going on is becoming more and more popular. That is, a higher-status man will refuse to get a marriage certificate. They want to use a paternity test to get their kids hukou. You can never see this kind of cases in the news, but there’s a ton of them going through the courts. The Supreme Court just published an explanation for this phenomenon just last month.
Basically, Chinese men, especially bottom-class men, are not getting married, but paying a bride price and having kids with women. Once the kid is born, they use a paternity test to put the kid on their hukou. Once they have a kid registered under their hukou, are they going to get married now? Of course not. Not only will they break up with the girl, but they’ll sue the girl to get their bride price back.
You see a feminist society on the internet where women have their pick of men, but in reality, no one has any control of the bottom class anymore. Not only do these men refuse to get married, they’ll go through a paternity test to get kids under their hukou. Sure, they’re willing to pay bride price, but once they break up, they’ll sue for every cent of it back. What can you do about it?
The policies about extramarital children published in July 2021 were a last resort meant to deal with these real circumstances. [Laws that allow extramarital children to have an equal share of inheritance as marital children.] People are having more and more varied lifestyles.
Everything you see in the news, like #Two 1994 mommies live with each other after divorce, are all about girls living a life of “kids, besties, and no men”. It’s all women proactively making choices.
But what about real life?
You never see real life in news.”
Comments say, “The two moms living with each other, I wonder if their ex-husbands bought their houses and cars.”
“I can’t believe such a developmentally retarded country can invent such creative strategies—such unbelievable speed.”
“Marriage is the greatest cornerstone of a nation. Civil servants who don’t get married will be put in the cold palace and slowly alienated.”
“A question: If the government pays out 1 million RMB per baby, would you have babies?
The best answer I saw: “Of course! But I’m not gonna have a baby right away. I’m gonna have pre-sold babies. The government has to first pay me 200K, then get the other 800K as a loan from the bank. But the money has to go straight on my account.
Only once I have the full amount, will I begin the process of having a baby. First, I’ll work out and improve my nutrition for a year.
Then, I’ll start trying, with the plan to deliver the baby in 2 years. After three years, I’ll assess my personal circumstances and see if I’m going to deliver a baby or not. If I don’t, then it’s a rotten tail baby. [烂尾, literally rotten tail, used to describe presold houses that were never delivered. Can generally be used to describe anything that has a shitty ending.]
If there’s a rotten tail baby, the government can defend its rights, of course. But I’m not going to promise any results, because the problem might be with the contractors—that is, my wife. They can go chase down my wife for their rights.”
Comments say, “The government can come out with a guaranteed housing policy, where they take away your wife and only give her back once they have a baby. That’s what we call affordable baby policy.”
“If you can’t become a civil servant without having at least two babies, then you’re a nationalised company.”
“You’re not having babies for the government anyways. The government doesn’t mind the current birth rates. Normal people just think they care a lot.”
Apologies, what does "Civil servants who don’t get married will be put in the cold palace and slowly alienated." mean?