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Building things and breaking things in China (Summer School World Tour)
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Nancy Qian on the 'Spoiled and Miserable' Generation
At 31:10 · chapter starts 28:30
Nancy Qian, who grew up in Shanghai's French concession district sharing 300 square feet with ten family members, provides the macroeconomic frame for A Zi's individual story. [1] — Nancy Qian "China's young urban adults grew up expecting the good jobs their parents' sacrifices were supposed to unlock. Now those white-collar jobs h…" 29:10 China grew at 10% annually for almost two decades — with some cities at 30% — transforming the neighbourhood Qian grew up in from cramped shared tenements to skyscrapers surrounded by Lamborghini dealerships and luxury boutiques. That transformation created enormous expectations among young people who were told their parents' sacrifice and China's growth were their inheritance. The cruel irony is that the high-paying white-collar jobs in law, finance, tech, and government that this generation was trained for have been shrinking as growth has slowed. The result is what Qian memorably calls being 'spoiled and miserable at the same time' — dismissed as spoiled by an older generation that literally shoveled manure, but genuinely suffering from a structural mismatch between aspiration and opportunity. Lost years of early-career work, she warns, compound into lifetime productivity damage for the whole economy.
China's one-child policy was enforced from 1980 to 2016, meaning most young adults today are only children who may inherit real estate from multiple family members.
China's young urban adults grew up expecting the good jobs their parents' sacrifices were supposed to unlock. Now those white-collar jobs have dried up. They're simultaneously seen as spoiled by a generation that shoveled manure, and genuinely miserable — and that combination is socially dangerous.
China sustained roughly 10% annual GDP growth for almost two decades, with some urban areas growing as fast as 30% per year.
