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What the Appeal of One Fast-Growing City Says About China's Economy
What the Appeal of One Fast-Growing City Says About China's Economy

New York Times

time21-05-2025

  • Business
  • New York Times

What the Appeal of One Fast-Growing City Says About China's Economy

The inland city of Chengdu in southwestern China is often ridiculed for its slow-paced and leisurely lifestyle. It's portrayed as a haven for slackers, lacking the unrelenting, hardworking culture found in wealthy coastal trade centers like Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. For decades, industrious young people left Chengdu, and other landlocked urban centers, to pursue opportunities near the coast, where money poured in as China opened its factories and exported its goods to the rest of the world. Even before China's trade war with the United States, more young people were turning away from the hypercompetitive work culture found in the country's megacities, opting for a more chill life in Chengdu, which has earned the reputation of being 'China's happiest city.' Chengdu is one of the fastest-growing cities in China. Its population has surged 30 percent in the last five years to 21.5 million, and its real estate market is booming — a rare bright spot amid the country's property crisis. The appeal of Chengdu, an ancient city with a history dating back more than 2,300 years, reflects a budding disillusionment among young people who see an economy that is no longer creating the opportunities it once did for their parents. As its exports have surged, drawing tariffs from President Trump, China's domestic economy has struggled. Consumers have been wary of spending, a continuing trend shown again in new monthly government data released on Monday. Better pay and a successful career are not a guaranteed trade-off for endless workdays and the grind of living in crowded and unaffordable cities. Wuhan, another inland city and the capital of Hubei Province, has also experienced a significant increase in residents over the past four years. Jobs in Chengdu generally pay less than those in other major cities, and the opportunities for career advancement are more limited, but it is a less stressful place to live. 'Chengdu is more friendly to young people in every aspect,' said Wang Di, a history professor at the University of Macau who has written extensively about the city. He compared Chengdu to Austin, Texas — another city known for its embrace of art and counterculture. While the Chinese government is growing increasingly repressive, Chengdu has a vibrant L.G.B.T.Q. community, a thriving hip-hop scene and a plethora of teahouses. And, of course, there are the pandas. Chengdu is home to hundreds of giant pandas. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding attracted more than 12.2 million visitors last year, according to Chinese state media. With an influx of transplants and returnees, housing prices in Chengdu have increased at a faster rate than in any other major city in China. Since 2021, the average home price per square meter rose 16.8 percent, compared with a 5.4 percent increase on average for 10 major Chinese cities, according to statistics from China Index Academy, a real estate research firm. Hu Sheng, 36, moved to Chengdu from a smaller nearby city in Sichuan Province to work in the construction and renovation industry. He has been looking for a three-bedroom apartment, but prime properties go off the market quickly, he said. 'There are a lot of people buying homes now,' Mr. Hu said. 'Everyone is scrambling for those apartments.' As China's westernmost major city, Chengdu has long played a role in national security. Starting in the 1960s, the government invested heavily to move military defense and transport manufacturing inland as a way to protect these critical industries from potential foreign invaders. Xi Jinping, China's top leader, has pledged to bolster the country's industries for cutting-edge technology such as semiconductors and reduce its reliance on foreign firms. Economists have speculated that a similar focus on strategic domestic industries may bring more companies to Chengdu and its inland cities. Currently, about 70 percent of Chengdu's economy derives from the service sector, which includes spending from tourism and dining at the city's popular spicy hot pot restaurants. It is not as reliant on manufacturing as other locations are, insulating it from the most devastating impact of the tariff battle with the United States. There is also a thriving entertainment sector in Chengdu. The animated film 'Ne Zha 2,' which became China's highest-grossing movie ever upon its release this year, was produced by a studio in Chengdu. The city has also become a hub for video game development, driven in part by Chengdu's emergence as a center for the e-sports industry. Huang Xue, a general manager at the Chengdu branch of China Index Academy, a property market data provider, said housing prices in the city were more in line with wages than in other cities. Ultimately, though, people are turning to Chengdu because at a time of economic uncertainty across China, she said, 'people should enjoy life when they can.' Three years ago, Emma Ma, 30, left Beijing to move to Chengdu, where she is running a studio producing music videos with her partner. She said she was renting a two-bedroom apartment for about $400 a month, which would barely cover the cost of a bedroom in a shared apartment in Beijing. She and her partner also hired a helper to do chores and make dinners for them. 'I feel it doesn't cost a lot to be happy here,' Ms. Ma said. Professor Wang said the negative perception of a slower lifestyle had changed in China after the Covid-19 pandemic, when cities like Shanghai were locked down for months. The relative stability of daily life in Chengdu, once considered dull, became more appealing, he said. Treasure Wu left Chengdu in 2018 to work as a computer programmer in Shanghai. Mr. Wu said he did not enjoy his life there. His rent was expensive, he could not understand the Shanghai dialect and he quickly grew bored of visiting local landmarks. Two years later, he moved back to Chengdu. His company was expanding, and he was offered the chance to transfer. Mr. Wu said he bought an apartment in Chengdu in 2022 for around $300,000. A similar size apartment would cost three times as much in Shanghai, he said. 'My salary here is enough to support me in buying whatever I want,' Mr. Wu said. 'I have a great sense of well-being in Chengdu.'

The real story isn't young men supposedly voting far right. It's what young women are up to
The real story isn't young men supposedly voting far right. It's what young women are up to

The Guardian

time21-05-2025

  • Politics
  • The Guardian

The real story isn't young men supposedly voting far right. It's what young women are up to

'The boys are alt-right.' This seems to be the new consensus on far-right politics propagated in numerous articles and podcasts. But the media's obsessive focus on the young men allegedly fuelling the rise of the far right isn't just empirically flawed – it misses a much more significant shift in public opinion among young people. While many surveys show a large gender gap in support of far-right parties and policies, it is young women who stand out as the more politically interesting demographic, as they are turning in ever greater numbers towards the left. The idea that young people in general, and young men in particular, disproportionately support the far right has been around for a while. In a classic 2012 study, the German political scientist Kai Arzheimer characterised the 'typical' voter of far-right parties in Europe as 'male, young(ish), of moderate educational achievement and concerned about immigrants and immigration'. It is frequently used to explain the rise of Donald Trump, while in Europe there has been an explosion of articles claiming that young people, particularly young men, are 'driving far-right support'. But is the recent rise of Europe's far right truly due to the disproportionate support of young men? And are young people really becoming more rightwing? Levels of support for far-right parties among young people are indeed higher than ever before in many cases. But articles on this subject often fail to mention that far-right parties have increased their support overall, and that support among other age groups is at least as high. A study of the 2024 European elections even showed lower support for far-right parties among young voters (aged 16-29) than among older voters. More interestingly, while young men voted for far-right parties in similar numbers to older men, young women voted less for far-right parties than older women. Most research shows that young people – both women and men – hold more progressive values than previous generations. While there is a larger gender gap among young people, the main reason for this is not a rightwing turn among young men but a sharp leftwing turn among young women, as Gaby Hinsliff noted in a perceptive recent column for the Guardian. That the media chooses nevertheless to focus on young men illustrates the male gaze that continues to dominate society, which not only means that whatever men do or think is deemed inherently important and worthy of both academic and political attention, but also sets men as the norm. This ends up strengthening the far right's political prospects: given that men are the norm, what they supposedly do or think is deemed 'normal', which means that all politicians should come up with 'commonsense' policies to cater to them. To be clear, 'the boys' may not be not 'alt-right' but they are also not all right. Many studies have found that young men struggle in terms of education, mental health and work. And politically, research shows that while young men do not vote more for far-right parties than older men, they do consider voting for far-right parties in much larger numbers. Moreover, they are more susceptible to 'modern sexism' – denying that women continue to be discriminated against and rejecting demands for increased gender equality. Of course it is important to better understand these developments, particularly given the threat that the far right poses to liberal democracy. But this should not lead us to minimise or even ignore the more pronounced generational shift to the left. That young women are more supportive of abortion rights or feminism than young men and even older women should not be that surprising, given that these issues affect them more directly and personally. Yet they are also more concerned about the environment and more supportive of redistribution and a larger role for the state. Why is this? This is not just an academic question: it is a political opportunity. Centre-left parties have followed the male gaze into chasing an outdated interpretation of the 'working-class' voter (narrowly defined as white men with rightwing sociocultural views). This electoral strategy pushes politics further to the right. Moreover, as decades of academic research have shown, it serves mainly to help far-right parties while hurting centre-left parties, which end up losing (young, female) progressive voters and barely gaining the (male) reactionary voters they court. Focusing on the priorities and values of female voters (such as actions to fight the climate crisis and strengthen the welfare state), rather than pandering to the reactionary politics of the far right, would have two major advantages for progressive politics in general and for leftwing parties in particular. First, it would transform the political debate: we would talk more about combating the climate crisis, for instance, and spend less time demonising immigrants. Second, it gives young women a reason to come out and vote in larger numbers, which is significant, as 'young women abstain from voting more than young men do'. The opportunity is there for the taking. Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today

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