Clarification:
Take, for example, 2027, when humans in offices will be successfully replaced by AI, and robots will begin to replace construction workers and other workers. How terrible do you think it will be after 2030? And how much the level of depression and everything else will increase. I will also add that not everyone will be able to receive unemployment benefits, and some will die of hunger. Let’s be realistic and not console ourselves with rosy fantasies.
China has a horrifyingly destructive demographics crisis on their hands. Even if they reversed course on that issue today, it won’t be solved for decades. And there is every indication their demographics issue is accelerating.
China is peaking. Them, South Korea, and Japan are the worlds case study on how to deal with these problems; all three are going to fuck up in 100 ways that everyone else will be able to learn from. Immigration is one of the main ways to deal with it, something that China is much worse off with as their poor wages and sheer size means they uniquely cannot attract enough people, unlike South Korea and Japan.
“Horrifyingly destructive” sounds a bit hyperbolic. Birthrates in South Korea, Japan, and some European countries are lower.
Wages are not low in China when compared to the cost of living. However high wages may be in South Korea and Japan, people still can’t make ends meet because prices are high. And I don’t see how a country’s size would factor in at all. But in any case, I don’t think China is even trying to attract immigrants, making this moot.
China has a problem, sure, but it’s not a “horrifyingly destructive demographics crisis.” This is largely a cope narrative pushed by “China watchers.” Further, purchasing Power in 2022 was 25 times higher than 1978. China has decent wages now, and they are only improving. The latest five year plan is also focusing on improving domestic consumption, ie improvements in living standards, and as such has better prospects than either the ROK or Japan when it comes to demographic issues, as both are struggling economically.
Thing is, as the Western empire collapses, I think more and more people will start to move towards China just for the sake of stability and a basic standard of living. It’s already something I’ve been thinking about, and things are only going to get worse.
All that to say, I wouldn’t write off the idea of them attracting people. Immigration is a possible solution, it kinda depends on if the PRC wants it to be their solution.