City’s Place | Young People Hurt by the Aunties

The Apple store in Jing’an District, Shanghai, has opened. This Apple flagship store is said to be the largest in Asia, and Apple CEO Tim Cook was also present.

In the past, “the largest in Asia” was nothing, but against the backdrop of the foreign capital withdrawal wave, this is a rare “warm news.” It can be imagined that the relevant departments in Shanghai have done a lot of work behind the scenes, which can also be regarded as a sign of the “business environment.”

However, an elderly woman ruined this warmth. She roared at the crowd queuing outside the store, implying: How can such a high-end place open a store for an American brand? Chinese people should all use Huawei… You are drinking the blood of the martyrs, gulping it down…

A young man queuing said: What phone to use is a matter of personal freedom, and besides, what’s wrong with Apple? They opened a store here, creating jobs and paying taxes.

From the video I saw, in this confrontation, the elderly woman wearing a mask clearly had the upper hand, and the onlookers cheered for her.

In such a situation, an elderly woman giving a speech there is actually not illegal and can also be regarded as “social progress.” However, if it were a Huawei flagship store opening, and you gave a speech there saying that you should use Apple phones, the result might not be so beautiful. You might be beaten by the crowd, or you might be taken away by the police on the grounds of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

The elderly woman knows that although some young people dislike her, and even the police don’t like her making trouble, no one can do anything to her. Yesterday, I also saw a video of an elderly woman in the Apple store in Sanlitun, Beijing, reciting “Man Jiang Hong,” also with great passion.

These video creations may be for the purpose of getting attention, or they may be a natural state, but they are all “strong” forces.

And the young man who argued with the elderly woman, using the words “Apple store creates jobs and pays taxes,” represents a new generation that is more in line with modern society and economic common sense. He is reasonable and polite.

However, our society makes this kind of voice seem timid, weak, and precarious. This is the tragedy of education and also the tragedy of “Shanghai.” Since I first went to Shanghai in 2001, I knew that “foreign companies” were respected here—when did Shanghai become like this?

I have seen several related economic statistics news these days:

According to the Ministry of Finance, from January to February, corporate income tax revenue was 1.017 trillion yuan, the same as the same period last year; personal income tax revenue was 326.2 billion yuan, a decrease of 15.9% over the same period.

The decrease in personal income tax can only be due to two reasons: either the number of people paying taxes has decreased (unemployment rate has increased), or the amount of taxes paid has decreased (income has decreased). Of course, these people refer to those who pay personal income tax.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate for those aged 16-24, excluding students, was 14.6% and 15.3% in January and February this year. This data is significantly higher than the urban unemployment rate in the same period, indicating that young people’s employment is more severe. Moreover, the unemployment rate in February rose again compared to January.

Another media outlet wrote a special report, telling the story of “young people who have given up paying social security.” They have to pay their own social security, indicating that they already belong to “flexible employment,” but after persisting for a while, they really can’t afford it.

These three pieces of news are all related to young people, vaguely pointing to a particular group: some young people, who originally had good jobs (can pay personal income tax), are now unemployed, and some have simply given up paying their own social security, living a life of “risk at their own expense.”

It’s not to say that the elderly woman’s protest and outburst directly led to their unemployment. However, this wave of shouting and killing may scare away foreign companies and also make some private entrepreneurs panic, which is logically valid. This conflict of ideas is affecting the real lives of many people.

Currently, the foreign capital withdrawal is causing unemployment for some “white-collar workers” and personal income tax contributors, but even if you are a civil servant, your income will also be affected if fiscal revenue decreases.

There is no special solution. My suggestion to young people is to rely on their parents if they can. If your parents are as righteous as the elderly woman in the video, opposing foreign companies and opposing “capital,” and have a good pension, you should find a way to “rely” on them. This is not only “redistribution,” but also a kind of justice.