Economic downturn, nosy relatives: Chinese young people avoid Lunar New Year

“If I had a choice, I would never go home,” says Yuwen, 33, who has been unemployed for more than six months, just days before Lunar New Year.

Many of China’s approximately 380 million internal migrants return home only once a year. Usually, that time is Lunar New Year, which is the most important festival for family reunions. This is why the Chinese New Year travel rush, known as “Chunyun”, is the world’s largest mass migration each year. Officials are predicting a record number of 9 billion tourists this Year of the Dragon.

But Yuwen fears returning home because she says her relatives will criticize her for every aspect of her life, especially her work situation, including her pay and benefits. His parents know he lost his job and are understanding. They agreed that the best bet was to lie to his relatives that Yuwen was still at his old job.

Yuwen also spends only three days with relatives, but normally it would take more than a week. “It’s almost over,” he says.

Hundreds of young people announced on popular social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo that they would not be returning home for the festival. Some, like Yuwen, have recently lost their jobs.

After decades of incredible growth, China’s economy is losing momentum and the hoped-for post-COVID-19 recovery has not materialized. The real estate market has collapsed and local government debt has ballooned.

But the crisis of confidence is perhaps the most troubling issue. Investors are concerned that China’s leadership will prioritize party control over economic development. Under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, there has been a crackdown on private companies ranging from technology to private tutoring. Relations with Western countries have also deteriorated in recent years.

Ubun is a victim of repression against private companies.

In 2014, he decided to pursue a graduate degree in Chinese education in Beijing, about 300 kilometers from his hometown in Hebei province. It was to “ride the wave of national policy” — a year earlier, Mr. Xi had launched the Belt and Road Initiative to spread greater influence overseas.

After graduating, he immediately got a job at a tutoring company and was responsible for managing and training foreign tutors for Chinese students. However, in July 2021, the Chinese government banned private tutoring for profit in the name of reducing the burden on students. This was the end of the world for the $120bn (£95bn) tutoring industry.

Yuwen was forced to change jobs. He joined a major technology company in January 2023. He was responsible for developing live streaming rules for the company’s international platforms and overseeing the work of prominent influencers. However, it lasted only 5 months.

A regulatory crackdown on big tech companies since late 2020 has already wiped out more than $1 trillion in value, according to Reuters. The United States then threatened sanctions against Chinese tech companies, citing concerns about China’s national security law. This was the final straw for Yuwen’s company, which decided to move its overseas operations out of China.

Yuwen says he has sent out resumes more than 1,000 times in the past six months alone. Even though he has already lowered his expected salary, he has not yet received a job offer. “At first I was very calm, but then I started to get anxious. I didn’t expect it to be this difficult,” he says.

In the southern city of Shenzhen, fitness trainer Qinfeng decided to go on a solo trip for Lunar New Year.

He would lie to his parents that he couldn’t buy a ticket home. “Who doesn’t want to go home to celebrate the New Year? But I’m just embarrassed.”

After retiring from the military in 2019, Qingfeng started working as a fitness instructor and said he was able to earn around 20,000 yuan ($2,800, £2,200) a month in Shanghai. Last year, he moved to Shenzhen to be closer to his girlfriend, who is studying abroad in neighboring Hong Kong.

At 28 years old, he took a job at a foreign trading company in search of a more stable job. However, his salary was only 4,500 yuan a month. This was unsustainable as monthly rent in Shenzhen is at least 1,500 yuan.

Qingfeng quit her job after two months and now has a job at a new gym that will open after the holidays. But he doesn’t want to see his family. He says he lost almost all his savings last year. “You could say I failed in the stock market,” he said, though he didn’t want to give details.

In early February, Chinese stocks fell to a five-year low. The U.S. embassy’s Weibo account became an outlet for Chinese investors’ grievances, some of whom turned to Americans for help. Some criticized the current leadership. All such posts have since been deleted.

Qingfeng isn’t sure if he will be able to build a customer base at his new gym due to the economic downturn. “Many large gyms have recently closed due to high debt.”

But economics is not the only reason why some young Chinese people don’t want to go home for the festival.

Some single women like Oba say they don’t want their families to pressure them to get married and settle down.

“I’ve worked all over the country. When I go to a city, my mom suddenly sees a guy and asks me to go on a blind date. It’s crazy,” says the 35-year-old project manager.

Low birth rates have raised concerns that the country will lose young workers, a key driver of the economy. According to official data, young people are becoming more reluctant to get married and have children, and the number of registered marriages has declined for nine consecutive years.

Xi said in October that women have a “unique role” in promoting traditional virtues and that a “new marriage and childbearing culture” needs to be fostered to cope with population aging. said. However, government efforts to raise marriage and birth rates have so far been ineffective.

Oba no longer panics about marriage and is enjoying life. She plans to spend Lunar New Year with her cat and watch the large-scale CCTV New Year celebrations that are broadcast every year on the eve of the Chinese New Year from her rented apartment in Shenzhen.

Yuwen hopes that next year’s Lunar New Year will be better. “I’m determined and I’m sure I can make it. I’ve never thought of giving up.”

But there are some things he can’t control. “I’m not very optimistic about the economy in 2024.”

Interviewees have been given pseudonyms.