Ol' Communist Dictator Xi JP has some daunting economic problems. A crumbling real estate sector is just one that lights up the marquee. The other is youth unemployment across most sectors. Young folks want work. Jobs are scarce. Hmmmm. Answer by the party: go back to the land.
Xi notes that during the "Cultural Revolution", many Chinese youth of the post war period were lured back to the land as Communist Party leaders needed some patriotic slogans to inspire a generation as the State tried to organize some economic program other than another failed 'Great Leap Forward". So Xi and company went to work in the fields. Builds character, isn't that what they say? They = party hacks and comfortable pols in the big city.
Most international students of Chinese economics know this is nothing more than a shift of priorities: less pressure on city services and government programs will help the country overcome the slowdown; the recovery period, and make the government appear to be solving a crisis brought on by its own missteps.
Unfortunately, more than half the population already lives on the farm. Yes, the city/urban population is about half, by decree. You can't come to the city w/o a permit/passport, otherwise, cities would be overrun with people w/o skills and little education. Keep them in the countryside until further notice.
So Xi is getting desperate. How many people must he arrest and imprison to appear as significant leader? Hmmmm. Maybe the finance sector will begin to come around. Maybe our South China Sea aggressions will produce some return. Maybe the military sector, the PLA, will assert control over new areas. Maybe Russya will buy more cheap goods to sell to its shrinking population. Maybe Siberia will take more of the folks looking for elbow room?
Poor Xi. Now he has decided to meet Pres. Biden in San Francisco. Wait til he sees the City by the Bay. It will encourage him as he wades through the homeless camps; the drug bazaars on City streets, and the failed businesses on Market St. He go home thinking it could be worse: We could be San Fransicko. He'll have to go back and read more of Mao's 'Little Red Book' for guidance.
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