Shanghai Is Finished: No Foreigners at Shanghai Trade Fair or Foreigner Street, Rent Plummets 60%
Vložit
- čas přidán 13. 06. 2024
- As China's largest economic and financial center, Shanghai was consecutively ranked as the most attractive city for foreign talents in China for eight years. People from all over the world used to live, work, and even get married and raise families here. Early 2022 data indicated that approximately 460,000 foreigners from 47 countries lived in Shanghai. The city welcomed over 2 million temporary foreign visitors each year, and the number of work permits issued to foreign elites exceeded 50,000. According to the Bureau of Statistics, by the end of August 2021, Shanghai had attracted more than $270 billion in foreign investment, housing 61,090 foreign enterprises.
But this situation was first disrupted by the three-year COVID-19 pandemic. Especially in March of last year, the humanitarian disaster caused by the lockdown of Shanghai led to a significant number of foreigners choosing to flee and expressing their reluctance to return. Subsequent geopolitical tensions and the uncertainty arising from such events followed. Especially when China's newly revised "Counter-Espionage Law" came into effect on July 1st, expanding its scope to include broader interpretations of violating national security standards and granting the government more power in conducting searches, detentions, and implementing personal travel bans. This has left foreign residents in China feeling even more unsafe.
Many foreign investors now feel that the conditions for long-term investment in China are no longer as favorable as before and have chosen to withdraw. This, in turn, has affected the willingness of foreigners to live in Shanghai. As a result, the city's foreign population is visibly decreasing. The following video shares a Shanghai resident's true feelings.
#shanghai #foreigners #chinatrade #chinaobserver
All rights reserved.
I was one of those foreigners who fled last year. I will never return as a result of my experiences in the Shanghai lockdown. I had never experienced such inhumanity before. I saw what REAL China is like, in the way that Chinese experience it and I was horrified. I have told everyone in the west about my experiences and so have all of us who have fled. The only foreigners going back there are the desperate ones, with no other options. I feel horrible that Chinese people don't have the privilege of having a western passport as I do. I will never take my freedom for granted EVER again.
Same, I lived in Shenzhen for 3 years and left in 2018 when the anti western sentiment was just beginning to show. I can't imagine what it would have been like living through the lockdowns in Shanghai. I will never take for granted and appreciate western society so much more after experiencing Chinese society...
I suffered the Shanghai lockdown too and i feel exactly same as you. After 8 years living in Shanghai, I left December 2022, one week after the government decided to open up and most people included me got infected with covid. I will never forget 2022 lockdown and what i saw and read…i also saw the real China and i feel sorry for my Chinese friends who cant escape the crazy CCP. I relocated to Singapore and despite it is not perfect, i feel life is much more convenient for every day life.
You felt badly for some of your Chinese friends, totally understandable. But just so you know, so many Mainland Chinese think they are superior to all other Asian ethnic groups, and they certainly think China should invade Taiwan, I have many acquaintances who are like that, especially after a few drinks. They would reveal their true thinking to me because I am a Chinese. I stop arguing with them and stop calling them friends.
The West has turned into North Korea 😒
@@whatsilviadid3993as a Singaporean , we welcome you ☺️
The CCP has treated foreigners with contempt for a long time, so why would any foreigner want to stay?
Exactly
Not all foreigner-- just the ones that come from US.... Europeans know how to behave outside their homelands.. sorry, but it's true.
@@user-pr5cs8tr7v Whatever, wumao. The USA was your biggest market.
@@user-pr5cs8tr7v youre so clueless
@@user-pr5cs8tr7v I've seen Europeans in Asia doing outrageous things. Shoplifting, sexually pursuing local women, basically living dishonest and decadent lifestyles. A few Europeans were admirable, but in my years in Asia, I saw a lot of not so admirable ones. The Americans actually were among the more civilized foreigners.
The CCP got so arrogant as to think that they do not need to rely on foreigners. At the same time, they haven't increased the prosperity of the their people as much as they should have.
For foreigners the fear of the risks of >>”wrongful detention (false arrest)”
Yeah sure, probably happens in 1 in about 1.000.000 foreigners, and I bet that one was trafficking drugs into China.
You said it so…… they do arrest people , it said that they are spy !!!
Even the common person…..
Yes, who would want to visit a country that might arbitrarily wrongfully detain them to use them as a bargaining chip in hostage diplomacy while treating them horribly whilst being wrongfully detained?
rubbish, Shanghai is returned to China's most cosmopolitan city with lots of foreigners, just less Americans since Covid.
@@mikerussell3298 rubbish
A loss of Freedom equals a loss of business simple
Coming to a "country" near you.
Yes, for foreigners the fear of the risks of >>”wrongful detention (false arrest)”
Foreigners are decoupling or should we say de-risking
Even CCP party members have left china.
The decoupling of China and the USA will cause problems worldwide lol
Can they decoupling? Why Apple coming back to China after failed in India? Same goes to Foxconn n Tesla! They are running for their lives from India!.. Lmao!
@@WorldSpaceRacethey can’t fully decouple since they will lose those loyal customers but little by little it will happen. The more a government tightened its fist the faster people will take off
@4runner456 I would say the American deep state has some doing in this, brands like H and M pulling out of xinjiang for alleged “human rights issues” despite H and M using child labor anyways means it’s an external force
I started in the toy and flooring industries (plastics) in Taiwan back in 1992 and started making trips into China in 1994. I never liked it. A lot of business corruption, and there was NO legal system that let me protect my designs. I couldn't stay and do business in mainland China, and have been working in Taiwan for over 30 years now. It's a lovely place, and I always marvel that 80 miles of water can make basically the same people, with similar roots, so different. My last mainland trip was in 2013 for a trade show. I doubt I will ever go back; I've said too much already. There is no business future there for outsiders with a rigid communist party under Xi. So many of my Taiwan and American business partners and friends that didn't listen to me about long term business prospects for China, and are now hurting, ask me how I knew. Easy, the communist party people are fundamentally criminals that steal anything good... and then cheapen it. It's impossible to do business without trust. Relationships mean nothing when you see your exact product being sold elsewhere... oh, and RUN from anyone that starts calling you "brother".
@@anonymoustargetindividual Of course. I used to get all my fake Chinese Rolex's in Taiwan.
@@anonymoustargetindividual Just kidding. A $15 "Rolex" is waste. Better to eat some more Ba-wan.
@@anonymoustargetindividual Copycat thieves 😅🤡
Brother, you need more clean washing flushing public washrooms in India.
@@laughingkor8643
You called him brother, I’m staying away from you.
6 years i lived in Shanghai… After how we were treated during Covid .. Not allowed to leave our house and my Sons apartment for over a Year struggling to get Food Water and Medicine. You Imprisoned us literally House arrest Treated like criminals if we complained . As soon as we were allowed to leave we booked flights back to the UK 🇬🇧.. Will never return , Closed all our Offices layed off all staff who also wanted to leave , We are now based in Cardiff, And doing great, Blame your government for the way they treated people over Covid. You will never recover your City is DEAD . No one will live there under a Dictatorship ever again, And its such a shame . 😢.
Enjoy UK
You're lucky now to stay put in UK, so much better than where you've left.
I don't know why you will believe Chinese and the CCP. I am a Chinese descendant of oversea and I don't ever trust the Chinese since born.
COVID was brought in to China by the US military (US military Fort Detrick lab leak in July 2019). There is an ongoing US-China war so good that all Westerner left, there will be more space for BRICS countries to restart parts of China in the next 10-15 years which are the countries that will prevail in the future anyway. Enjoy your 'freedom' 😀
why you stayed in Shanghai?? Not yet died for 6 years?
The wolf warrior policies have consequences, making enemies of your people , your neighbors and the rest of the world.
Confucius, he say “Xi barking like mad dog scare away foreigners” 😂
Mao period part deux
Xi taking a shit, is high on pot
Absolutely love this comment 😅
😂😂😂
Lolllll😅😅😅
I taught English in China from 2010 to 2022. The years of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao were the best 2010-2014 after Xi took over , the country turned from a comfy, prosperous, foreigner loving atmosphere into a paranoid, xenophobic and antagonizing dystopia.
omg you are right I transited through Hong Kong in 2008 and later in 2019. The vibe totally changed for the worse in that time. I loved 2008, it became a scary jail in 2019.
Theyve always been inhumane communists even back then you just didnt see it.
Yes, for foreigners the fear of the risks of >>”wrongful detention (false arrest)”
I knew it was getting ugly when they hauled Hu Jintao off the convention floor
In 2016 the US was right behind on it's path to a paranoid, xenophobic and antagonizing dystopia.
I said it in the beginning when people used to say it’s safe in China I used to say it’s safe till the dictator decides to take everything from you that’s how safe it’s in China
youd have to be insane to set foot inside that orwellian nightmare. no amount of money could ever make me want to go there.
Exactly.
I turned down a lucrative job offer in HK recently because I did not want to deal with the hard authoritarian laws and lack of due process.
It would be difficult to convince me to go to Shanghai.
All that wolf-warrior nationalism is super dangerous.
You made the right choice. CCP’s tentacles are wrapped around HK for good now.
Freedom can never be taken for granted.
My sister and husband are getting out of china this summer (involved in the diplomatic corps) She told me last year that foreigners are getting out asap.
As of June 30th, US State Department rates China with a Level 3 Travel Advisory (Reconsider Travel), one level below 'Do Not Travel'. "Reconsider travel to Mainland China due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions."
No, it's an anti propaganda. Our corrupt and greedy government doesn't want us to know how great China really is. Modern, clean, no homeless problem, futureristic malls, cities and parks. Parents are with their children in a park well lit, without having to worry about crime. It hardly exists. Poor people are everywhere.
Yes, for foreigners the fear of the risks of >>”wrongful detention (false arrest)”
Really? I would have pegged that bitch at full "you want to get organ harvested or used as a propaganda piece, feel free!" Level of "do not go mfer!"
Also the fact that you can die from collapsing buildings or by the food you eat.
@@Vyz3r I would not touch Chinese food in Western countries either. Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants are constantly paying fines for not keeping their businesses sanitary.
Listen, foreigners have been slowly leaving since around 2017. After Xi Jinping seized power in 2012, things have been changing greatly. The government made life for foreigners incredibly difficult, from obtaining a visa & dealing with banks to the complex surveillance system and all around anti foreign sentiment 🇨🇳
Exactly, this is not necessarily a CCP phenomenon, but Xi. Then again, I believe it's always been the CCP's main goal to "hide your strength, bide your time". Xi just got anxious and wanted to take the glory before China was ready. Instead, he's just created an authoritarian hell hole
Exactly
Because that's when they brought in the nationwide Laws of foreign teachers requiring third party assessment of whether their degrees were fake or not. When I was a teacher there, I would guess that roughly 70-80% of teachers had a fake degree. Most teachers left in 2017/2018 and even more when they closed down the after school English centers in (2020?).
The issue here is that the large number of foreign teachers attracted foreign investment as the CCP could use it to their advantage that a lot of foreigners lived in China and married there. More foreigners going out also attracted people to go out more. It also enabled their English level to increase which allowed for even more Chinese to conduct foreign business and trade. But by severely decreasing the amount of foreign teachers there are in China, greatly impacts China's economy on a negative scale. They should have just left them alone and all would have been well.
Its the first step to control. Make everyone the same, then claim them as yours. Even better if you get ALL the people of that type. Then you can claim any offence to you is an offence to you. Whole bunch of bs tactics.
I agree and for foreigners the fear of the risks of >>”wrongful detention (false arrest)”
This is a lesson to learn for Shanghai , stop making things unbearable financially as people will just leave your city which is happening. So enjoy the empty streets and no jobs now. I knew this will happen , it was only a matter of time.
China is failing. Because of its wrong policies and arrogance
sounds like Toronto.
Video states that they see same trend in most cities in China.
Like Kinsington street in Philadelphia right?
Not only this
This is just a starting
I met a few Shangainese in my country. They used to be so proud about their country, and they will talk the loudest and talk big when it comes to discussing their own country status. Now, they decided to stay here and kept super quiet about their own country, in fact ashamed of their country and sometimes really really mad at Winnie.
Nah plenty of older generational Shanghainese in their 60s loved their city the way it was when they were young growing up. That was before “capitalism” and foreign investments and blah blah blah. Shanghai lost its charm decades ago. Maybe now it can reset. Foreigners with only monetary interests in mind can just F off as far as I’m concerned. That goes for any immigrant or migrant or ex pat to any foreign country. If your goal is exploit a society for money then I mean …. Yeah leave when you’re not making profit, and pls don’t come back 😅
😂
I used to follow a you-tuber foreigner teacher that had sold all his belongings to move to China as he was offered a teaching position in a prestigious school. Then a year later COVID hit! He would make videos of how strict the government was in their complex, and he was really scared because his wife was starting to develop panic attacks. She would then leave their apartment during restrictions to have a bit of air to relieve the stress. He lost his job and as soon as he could he left China behind with just a few belongings, so basically he lost everything. I imagine that life was the same way for all foreigners.
I think it is very sad what the CCP has done to China and its people.
Is stupid . Not just sad.
Been like that even before Mao!
And they want to do the same to Taiwan just like they have ruined Hong Kong
_"Every nation gets the government it deserves"_
-Joseph de Maistre
Communism is a tried and proven failure.
the oppressive attitude of the CCP toward foreigners and their culture means when there is less and less money flowing there is no incentive to stick it out or stick around
Freedom is priceless. Why suffer if you can be happier and free somewhere else.
We were harassed leaving China by security and customs so that we almost missed our plane despite being at the airport 7 hours ahead!
I feel for these ordinary citizens though. They can’t vote, they can’t raise their voices and they can’t live if the money stops due to policies.
Shanghai China is 10x better than L.A, NYC or Paris. Stop believing in these anti-China lies.
That's what you get for living in a Country run by a Socialist Government
.....time to move back to the country side. At least in the farm fields - they might be able to scratch out a living......
covid has taken it's toll
@@paulvon2378 Pooh's poor leadership has taken its toll, and it has just begun.
In the past, I enjoyed going to China. It was so dynamic and full of life, it was always changing. I can't say I was treated badly by many people. I would have been very happy to live in Hong Kong. I noticed a subtle change after Xi became president. Under Jiang and Hu, it was a bit "messy", but, in its own way, open and fairly free -- so long as certain third rails such as politics and religion weren't touched. After Xi, the mindset changed. It became increasingly restricted, closed-off. It wasn't really "bad", but it felt as if the parameters of what was allowed shrunk bit-by-bit each year, much like Stalin's salami slice approach. Long-term foreign residents told me in 2019 that many of their old colleagues had left. They took opportunities elsewhere. A good many of those who left had invested a lot into their lives in China, but they could read the writing on the wall. Since 2020, it's grown ever harder to be there. There is a growing sense of not being welcome, of China gradually rolling back its great opening. It might not go back to 1967, but it's certainly starting to look more and more like 1983.
I think we're all getting salami sliced unless you're a billionaire, but China does seem to be Russia tier now.
those other two guys you mentioned were also responsible for what is happening to falun gong.
I know a few Americans in Shanghai who left permanently. First, the locals have a distrust of foreigners so they tend to mix with their kind. Second, it became very clear that the commie gubmint' wanted more control over them, and it showed 100% during the lockdowns. One of my buds just got out 2022 early before the the 10th lockdown. It was unbearable.
u said it, sister. I lived in SH from 2004 to 2020. Once Xi Jinping took power in 2013, things started going downhill. Wasn’t until 2015 that it was noticeable. And by 2017 the writing was on the wall. Then when COVID hit, it all went to hell in a handbag 👜🤾♀️
Hong Kong's writing was on the wall when it was returned to China.
Why return to a place that can weld your front door and prevent you from going outside ?
Norway here, any investor knows that when a authoritarian regime start cooperating with FN-sanctioned and isolated warcriminal nations, its a question of time before the worldsociety punish everyone with assets or profits from such cooperation with China.
Everyone who doesnt want to loose their investments, dont invest in countries flirting with warcriminals behind closed doors.
I was a China major and lived in Taiwan for a while. Years ago, it was my dream to take my family to China for a year or two, but now I wouldn't dare go over there for any reason, and I feel sorry for the Chinese people who are laboring under the yoke of oppression. The current CCP government is worse than ever. I hope the people are able to eventually rise up and do what's required to finally free themselves of these parasites and make China the great, free and prosperous republic envisioned by Sun Yat-sen.
Nice pipe dream
Chinese democracy would have Japan sweating bullets lol
"Yolk" - I see what you did there . . .
@@jayacademia3436 PLUS, the people will never rise up cause they have been thoroughly brainwashed into worshipping, adoring their PIG goverment DOGGIE STYLE.
STOP DREAMING!!! If you disagreed with me then go read up on its long long long history. It's in their vain. It's who they are. VERY VERY TRAGIC AND SAD!!! It shouldn't have to be this way.
*yoke
A few years ago, I had a hankering to visit Shanghai. Now? No way. There is no rule of law there and China's thuggish foreign policy disgusts me.
Wolf Warrior diplomacy has failed. Their diplomats and spokesperson have all been sacked. They are using the panda bears again except now we see through the charade. They are not cute but evil organ harvesting, plague spreading evil. The CCP is a threat to humanity like we've never seen before and are watching hundreds of nuclear silos being built today.
Shanghai China is 10x better than L.A, NYC or Paris. Stop believing in these anti-China lies.
@@chowcheebai1139 hey, chowcheebai. This is chowcheehong
@@chowcheebai1139 No one wants to go there now.
How dare CHY NUY try to do what we have done for 150years... US federal government
As a “foreigner”, I’m just not very into being detained randomly. Not something I am not normally expect when I am traveling😅
Exactly. I’m not into being used as a bargaining chip by an evil government in hostage diplomacy against my own government and my own people.
I first visited Shanghai in 2007 and subsequently lived in China for 10 years from 2010 until 2020I loved the bustling energy and had some of the happiest years of my life there. As others have said though things changed for the worse under Xi. Things tightened, a sense of growing nationalism and more obstacles. The Visa process went from tick a couple of boxes to a major headache wanting details of your itinerary and places of stay in China. Post-COVID locals would dive for cover for fear of being infected by a foreigner. In Guangzhou where I lived latterly during COVID they evicted swathes of African nationals from their apartment complexes leaving them to traipse hopelessly searching for new accommodation. I eventually called it a day and left fearful that things could take a turn for the worse. Thankfully I didn’t experience the full horrors of a city lockdown like Shanghai but the joy was gone. I think now some of that growing nationalistic pride I observed must be tempered somewhat by the downturn in their economy. You really don’t know what you have til it’s gone. I think Xi may well go down in history as one of the worlds worst leaders in taking a country that was riding high and increasingly feted by all to completely reversing that damaging themselves in the process. Well done!
So you people cry about them doing nothing then when they do do something about covid and have an lockdown you still cry about it. Anyway keep living in misery and crying about china.
“Do not let a leader lead you on a bad path.” - Confucius.
Confucian idealism never actually existed. Poor people in China have always been exploited just like medieval Europe.
This is not from Confucius. It's clear as daylight if you study Confucian ethics.
@@wingsyc "A leader strives for harmony but not conformity. A petty person strives for conformity but not harmony.”
It’s China’s own fault. Even with the millions of people in other countries like me in New Zealand nearly always had an order on the way from clothes, shoes to fishing gear. The manufacturers started lying to us saying it was coming air Mail but it came by sea. We became suspicious & stopped trusting the sellers. It’s all about trust
Kiwi are raxists
There is nothing about trust. Everything about the "pan regions". AUCUS should forget about Asia, they should focus on their own countries. The same with NATO and Russia, the NATO troops should get away from Eastern Europe forever
Right cheat and cheat because that is way to get rich our classmates in high school told our teacher in Economics.
You cheat once you loss.
Greed is learned by humans, unfortunately most are born that way either by environmental influences or just plainly have black hearts.
Both Russia and China face less foreignors now an that is effecting the economies of both countries. Years ago, I happen to be in West Berlin observing the wall of separation with East Berlin an the difference in economic activity was hugely different so to economic and geopolitical politics. East Berlin was ghost town deprived of population and a vibrant economy. I said to myself there is no hope left when business can’t thrive. The City of Shanghai, China must figure out a way to reverse course if foreigners are not going to return.
Shanghai is still like what it used to be a hundred years ago. Its prosperity depends solely on the rich foreigners who invested and consumed in Shanghai. Without them,, Shanghai is merely nothing more than a small fishing town.
Fun fact: people generally hate authoritarian measures. Play Mao, people leave.
exactly and it's also no fun to be made the scapegoat for all of China's problems Chinese people treated foreigners horribly during the pandemic.
Lol, yes, generally speaking. I'd have to concur.
Starting in 2001 in my role as a global sales and procurement manager I have been to China five times for work, including to Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong. I have always had successful and enjoyable trips to China, including my last visit to Hong Kong in 2018. But after China kidnapped Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig - two regular business people, just like me, my wife made me promise to never again step a foot onto Chinese territory. So, I have never returned, and instead I’ve been redirecting our procurement efforts to Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - our category of goods can be bought at similar quality and cost as from China, without the political and economic risks. It takes some effort to get to these places from Canada when you tell your travel agent not to connect through Hong Kong or elsewhere in China, nor to use any China owned or affiliated airlines, including Cathay. But it can be done, from Vancouver, Canada I fly Air Canada (or Eva) to Taiwan, and from there to Singapore. I still sell to China, but I meet the customers outside of China, for example recently at a trade show in the US. China’s people are lovely, and wonderful to do business with, but if the communist regime sees fit to kidnap Canadians, I can’t be arrogant and say, it wouldn’t happen to me.
so Canada can do anything they like, but china can't.
All very nice but looking at it from a free world perspective- there is no difference between Canada and China. Get rid of Turdeu and his marxist ideas or you will and up same as China!
Well done! As it should be
"... China’s people are lovely, and wonderful to do business with...." umm... Why do I get the distinct impression that this represents, at most, 10% of the population as a whole?
YOU ARE WISER than many who still naively and foolishly believe it is still a good idea to set up business partnership with said country.
Saty as far away as possible from them lest you get burned into the ground with nothing left but you own bare bones. If you don't believe me just go read up on the demonic regime's atrocious history. It's just who they are. It won't ever alter.
I was importing from China. I stopped, because of the risks.
I would imagine many foreingners left as soon as they could after the Shangai lockdowns.
Its sad for the average person there, but they need to get rid of Whinney to improve their lives.
I guess China is realising that they actually need the rest of the world more than the rest of the world needs them.
Every day I give thanks to the universe that I was not born in China.
Me too. I try to keep that feeling to myself when I am around Mainland Chinese people though. The luck of the draw.
The lives of Chinese people are more prosperous and freer than you
I am grateful every day that I was not born in the US or Europe, because these countries are trash countries full of homeless people
Shooting your own Foot. Right foot and Left foot, even right hand and left hand. Covering up with lies with more lies until all collapse and still Winnie thinks he is the greatest ruler in the universe.
Treat people like pooh, they leave for friendlier countries!😊😅😂🎉
Think about the 2 Michaels from Canada who were charged under the broad law. They were held hostage because of a disagreement with the Canadian govt. or how about the threats to some Australian journalists under the new laws for reporting the truth. China didn’t like the reports.
I worked for two years in Pudong, Shanghai, and I can't believe how dead it seems to look now. I well remember Foreigner Street, which always used to bustle.
These are not all of China; Shanghai is still Shanghai, Pudong is still Pudong, Lujiazui is still Lujiazui. It's just that in the context of the reverse globalization trend, China needs a breakthrough opportunity. If you have experienced the differences between media inside and outside the Great Firewall, you should understand the limitations of CZcams now.
Is Shanghai still in China? I have an idea why no one in their right mind would go to China.
someone with very few life options. not the best and brightest foreigners, that's for sure.
It is true, I live in south China, and I see the same thing. Even in the smaller cities, there are no more foreigners and nightlife in this country has become significantly quieter than it used to be. I think the main reason is that the migrant labor pool has dried up. People are staying put in their home towns and not flocking to the cities anymore.
I suspect the Chinese themselves no longer have the luxury to go out at night, given that they are mainly in huge debts and increasingly losing their jobs. It about cutting the cloth the suit.
Naw dude, they left the country.
@@user-ex5bp4yj3x Indeed, Changsha is definitely one of the busier cities, with alot of younger people, in addition to Chongqing. Guangdong, however, my friend is a shadow of its former self.
people grow older my friend! and did I mention they don't have kids to replace them?
@@user-ex5bp4yj3x i didn't mention any theory, I said sooner than later you will see less and less migrants in the cities ...
I did a summer at East China Normal Univ. in Shanghai. This was in 1989 at the peak of the democracy movement. Before the developments, but China was very welcoming to foreigners at the time. There was much hope for democratic reforms until the crackdown, which happened a week after I left. So sad to see the CCP's turn to nationalism. Blaming all of China's problems on the West. It's the wrong way to go for China and for the world.
China closed down for 3 years.. so companies saw their company in trouble and went to india and vietnam.
The coming of foreigners in Shanghai make them rich. However, when foreigners left Shanghai, their economy started devastating.
I once purchased an air-ticket that routed via ShangHai airport. My 60 minute experience included getting barked at by an angry passport-check woman when I couldn't understand what she was saying and witnessing a family get mashed because the young boy had gone to the loo and missed the gate cutoff time by one minute. The officer was a tyrant and just used the opportunity to assert his power. And the departure lounge smelled of shit. Compare with Soeul airport that offered a meditation/sleeping space for layovers. Never again.
True on all accounts… great infrastructure with idiots operating it. Unfriendly, rude, arrogant, I can use every derogative word in the dictionary and it wouldn’t be enough. Over all the worst people I have ever encountered anywhere in over twenty years of traveling
In that brief interaction you definitely had a taste of the genuine "China experience". I have had several similar interactions like this while living there. Never again for me too.
Chinese airport staff workers in uniform in Shanghai are very rude. when passenger ask them question, they give no voice answer they just point his or her finger for you. or just shake his head left and right.
@@pingpongdonkeykongkongwe have an idiot in the whitehouse right now.Destruction by design
I'm not Chinese but the real cultured Chinese live in Taiwan, not in Communist China.
We are seeing in real time another hermit state develope. Tech companies are already beginning to pull out and moveing to india.
I was there last week, wife is Shanghainese but we live in Norway, she hadn't seen her parents since 2019 so we had to go, and yep, 4 months after this video all the foreigners are still gone, Shanghai feels very eerie and empty compared to what I remember it being, we went back to our old apartment in Gubei, place used to be laowai central with almost 50k laowai or about 1/3rd of all the foreigners in Shanghai living in that one area in 2019, they're all gone now, and most of the apartments seem to be empty. China has been opened since March, stopped requiring any test or quarantine since May, the foreigners are not coming back, they may travel to China for tourism but they won't return to live and work in China, people have been traumatized by the brutal zero COVID policy. Fun fact, Shanghai used to be considered an attractive place for expatriates, now it is once again considered a hard destination and Western companies will have to pay significant "discomfort" bonuses if they want their staff to move there.
I remember Shanghai from the early 1990s, before all of the old hutongs were demolished and replaced by modern apartment blocks, and when the Soviet Friendship building and the other monolithic, colonial-era edifices along the Bund still dominated the skyline. It was around the time when the new Shanghai had just begun to emerge from the banks of fog on the other side of the Huangpu river.
I visited the city for work on numerous occasions between 1991 and 1995 and ended up falling for a beautiful Chinese actress from the city. As a result it often felt as though I was on cloud nine when I was there, and as I was 6'2" (1.88m) tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and my Chinese girlfriend was also 6' tall and quite stunning, we usually turned heads everywhere we went - this was before many foreigners lived in or visited China, and when foreigners were still required to use FECs (Foreign Exchange Certificates) instead of ¥RMB, and in the era before all of the big hotel chains moved in, when the JC Mandarin was still the best hotel in town.
During one of our daily walkabouts Yo-Yo and I met a wonderful old man named Wang, who took us to the Ming dynasty Yuan Garden Teahouse, where we drank tea together and he told us how he'd been victimised by Madam Mao during the Cultural Revolution, simply because he'd been an English teacher.
I remember feeling as though I'd experienced a previous life there, and that Shanghai was a city of ghosts. I have so many great memories of the city during that period.
Anyway, I ended up moving back to the UK in 1996 and didn't go back to China for almost 20 years, during which time the modernisation of China and the rapid rise of its economy took place, so it was incredibly interesting to see for myself when I returned there for a series of visits between 2016-2018, working as an art curator in Shenzhen, Xi 'An, and Hangzhou.
The transformation of cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen were truly remarkable, though it was already becoming clear that the old optimism had gone, and that both the economic and political situations there were deteriorating rapidly.
Unfortunately for the CCP, Xi Jinping didn't heed the words of the Sly Old Fox, who said "Hide your strength, bide your time." Instead, as China became more powerful and strong, it resorted to bullying and threatening its neighbours. I hope that eventually more pragmatic heads will prevail in Beijing, and that confrontation with the West will be avoided, and that the Chinese people will start to see a loosening of the CCP's grip on power and more democracy. And with that will hopefully come a more enlightened view of the world and its resources.
So yo-yo was a 6 footer, and an actress. You have some imagination 😂
Just out of curiosity, what is that beautiful Chinese model doing now? Your otherwise very interesting story seems slightly incomplete without some closing information on that!
Sadly, it's ...power hungry leaders will never stop never grow up... China will do the most fatal of things. It will have no choice but to go to war with the world to survive. This planet isn't big enough for the greed of China. Another whole planet would be required. 😅😅
As events have proved 'democracy' is a poisoned chalice. Sounds like you have had the opportunity to experience the good, and the bad of both ideals, the WEF will remove all democratic ideals in everything but name.
@@burkus4033 Fortunately I have far too many great memories to need making up stories. If I could post an image of Yo-Yo on here I would do. Yes, she was six feet tall - which is not uncommon for Shanghainese, and she was an actress who'd been plucked from obscurity from among tens of thousands of other very beautiful young women.
Being a Hokian speaker and a former employee of China’s largest automobile company, I frequented Xiantiandi in Shanghai but in 2013 I started noticing the business style of the communist party members and it was alarming and I decided to resign from my job. And when Covid set in, Xi was caught flat footed and he was noticed by foreigners that it is unsafe to do business in China because of his greed.
I was there 10 years.Lived and worked there in Dalian,Shenzhen,Guangzhou,Zhanjiang,Dongguan etc......
I will say this to the Chinese: Learn how to RESPECT the foreigners who are trying their best to do good in your country...I had Chinese people spitting in my direction and would move away when near them.Even though I was in a suit and pristine clean and in good shape.
Many many Chinese are in my country (The UK) and I always was courteous and polite towards them and shown them nothing but RESPECT.
LEARN that respect and maybe you might get the foreigners back....
I just got back from Shenzhen, China. The flight was 3 times the cost of what it used to be. There are 1/10th the number of flights between various western countries and China, so one doesn't see anywhere near the number of foreigners one used to see. The number of flights is starting to increase however. There were no visible signs of a diminishing economy. The biggest changes I noticed compared to the period just prior to Covid, was an incredible increase in the number of Meituan scooters, way more electric vehicles and far fewer rental bicycles strewn over the sidewalks. Entry and exit were easy with no need to show a Covid test result, just an online form had to be filled out to enter and exit.
Glad to see foreigners are getting out while they still can. Next China may shut the doors. Who knows. The new espionage would had me out of there on the next plane.
I wouldn't be surprised if China shut their doors to the world. China can shut their doors if they want, but the truth is China NEEDS the WORLD because that's how China was able to grow and flourish their economy when foreign countries came in and deal businesses and investments with China. So with all due respect, the WORLD helped China, NOT China building their own economy on their own from the ground up without help. China is NOT self-sufficient, and in fact China relies on imported food. So if the world banned food from going into China, you can bet a massive starvation.
I wish that the doors would be closed. Except for the open entrance door that will admit the deported crooks that immigrated to Canada in the 1990's. Get them back out.
I used to travel to Shanghai regularly between 2011 to 2018 and spent many weeks enjoying the experience of being in Shanghai. The time I spent in china was such a positive and prosperous time. Such a shame that the government has become so unfriendly and anti capitalist...
What on earth are you talking about? It's the west led by the U.S that is acting in an unfriendly manner. Who initiated the trade wars? China or the U.S? Stop lying as usual. Go look at the data and the U.S has enacted way more trade sanctions than China has by far. What this Falun Gong propaganda channel won't mention is that foreigners aren't investing in the U.S either. So they're twisting everything to make it seem like China is the one that started this when it's not true.
@@deezeed2817 Why are you reacting as if CCP is your mother? It's a fascist attitude. US made the world trade happened, since the end of soviet, and that's when china gets a lot of business from the west because of cheap labor cost. In short, yeah... without other countries & capitals, china wouldn't be able to get out of their poverty status caused by your communist mother.
For foreigners the fear of the risks of >>”wrongful detention (false arrest)”
I made a couple of trips to China and spending time in Shanghai before the pandemic. To see sections near empty is rather scary. It shows how the CCP policies can affect business.
That's a shame as there was a time when Shanghai was an amazing and vibrant place.
Most foreign Mfg. Companies left China & moved their businesses to Southeast Asia specifically Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines & Thailand.
You've most importantly missed Singapore, a great way to set up business here, very safe with no hard core rules as seen practised by some Asian countries.
Not so much the Philippines where I am from, though.
@@leechengho2821, Just fyi: SG is not a manufacturing hub in SEA. You had that maybe 40 yrs ago. Although mainland Chinese transferred their billion dollars to SG to be managed by SG Wealth Mgmt.
@@anonymoustargetindividual , that's how it is, same in China.
As Xi has reverted to Maoist-style rule, even more autocratic than Mao, more like the North Korean Kim dynasty, the Chinese economy is also going back to that terrible time. Astute China observers have grave fears for the Chinese people, as the breakdown of economic activity is so drastic that they constitute the early signs of catastrophic shortages resulting in real hunger for the poor there, and even the middle class. There are likely to be floods of refugees.
They are flooding the US, UK, Singapore and Canada now.
I feel for the ordinary people of, China. Who were not involved in politics, but just worked to be happy.
We first noticed this around 2017 when we saw far less Anglos in that area. Less Americans, less Europeans but at the time more Chileans and Bangladesh or Indians. (or the same but more in comparison to Anglos) and there aren't nearly as many foreigners of any kinds. Yes, a small wave of post-covid opening has returned (or first time) because just now its proving safely open and flights are back to around 50% and not insanely expensive BUT it seems a larger wave is now leaving for the same reasons that flights are finally semi-reasonable and their home countries are now fully back to normal so they can go.
It's what Winnie the Pooh wanted.
......Winnie the Pooh recommends the delicious fish heads cooked in gutter oil !
@@urbanurchin5930 Mmmmmm. I'll book the flight back there, sign me up.
It's not Shanghai anymore. It's Shang-Low.😅
Lolol STOP!!
😊
I visited Shanghai and Xi´an in 2016 including using the fast trains. I was impressed, Shanghai was a really interesting city and I liked it a lot. OK, in Xi´an the ar polution was massive, but I stayed only a short time there. Same, the people were nice and it was easy to get in contact with them. When I see the pictures in the video it is unbelievable. On the other side, all the information of the Chinese government is negative and with this it is no wonder, no foreigner wants to go to China. There are plenty of other, friendlier places in the world. I hope, it will change not far from now. But when looking to Russia, I´m not overoptimistic.
The same applies to the UK the tourist have fled, middle eastern travellers are down dramatically. The problem is the worldwide economic decline worldwide.
True, but it’s also worth noting that the economic decline is caused by the after effects of COVID lockdowns and war in Europe. The global elites-that is, billionaires and multinational corporations-created this crisis, and they’ll pass the pain along to us unfortunately.
But did the UK implement laws about espionage that would get foreigners arrested like China did?
I call bullshit. The UK is not like China.
There are so many other friendlier countries to visit .. I am Canadian & I dont feel like going to a sort of controlling country with no set laws/ treaties or at least no understanding of freedom/respect of treaties/ laws & friendliness. It didn't bother me before but China has become a ? . I do like Canadian/Chinese people in here but I wouldn't go to China . I would go to Thailand Philippines ,Australia Egypt Greece & many more . China isn't seen as being exactly friendly anymore period.
As a history buff I really want to see the Chinese wall, the forbidden city and so on. But, I will not go there as long as my money benefit the CCP. I hope that they will be overthrown in my lifetime but time us running out for me, I am 53.
I refuse to let my money benefit any kind of oppression. Period.
The differences between China and Turdeu’s Canada are cosmetic! Wake the ef up!
Don't miss South Korea. Haha, honestly, I've been learning Korean language recently. Then, I'm going to stay there for at least a year and have fun. By the way, I feel bad for you to get Trudeau as a neighbor who is also facing problems from Washington swamp and Biden. And yes, the demolisher Gavin. South is very depressing during these years.
I'm touring China and is a perfect place, secured and safe than any in the West. Bad media won't change my mindset.
Chinese airport staff workers in uniform in Shanghai are very rude. when passenger ask them question, they give no voice answer they just point his or her finger for you. or just shake his head left and right.
Why would I visit a country that bans basic websites and forms of communication I use every day? A friend of mine who is currently abroad studying was phoned by security services in China and asked where she is they no longer see her presence in China.
Sometimes its a scam. We get quite a lot of it here where they pretend to be Chinese officials and scare people into paying large sum of money
I've never been to Shanghai but I always understood it to be a commerce center. And I can't help but wonder if the same drop in use of commercial real estate in many major cities down town corridors isn't also being felt in places like Shanghai.
Why rent a place for $25k a month when you could simply travel there, stay at a luxury hotel, and then head back home when the meeting is over for a 1/3 of the price? Banking and finance isn't what it once was. The pandemic turned us into a truly global economy where business dealings aren't done in person as much as they once were.
3:16 The one thing I've noticed about this video clip is that she does not state her "feelings" about the situation at all; she only states her observations.
iirc, the so called "anti-espionage law" made things worse that foreigners fled
Feel sad for the common chinese who have nothing against the world.
The entire blame is for Joker Winnie
Him and the party are a disease.
I remember watching a movie that featured this street that was basically an amazing advertisement for visiting china. Shenzhen and Hong Kong had always been interesting as I love tech but I wouldn't visit Hong Kong or china ever unless a drastic regime and cultural shift happens. It's sad as my mother visited china for work a few times and met lovely people but the ruling class and society as a whole aren't very representative of individual people sadly as much as they should be. Taiwan I would still like to visit as I find their quiet but determine struggle against Chinese pressure admirable.
The wolf warrior has bad breath and it sent the foreigners away.
It's not just the aggressive words but the actions of the party that have driven us away. Every morning I wake up relieved that I don't live in China anymore. They did that to themselves.
Hey I walked down that street a little over 10 years ago! It’s crazy to see it so empty.
I'm still in SH. It's not empty at all when you film it during regular business hours.
@@kirkwcowgillI don't believe you 😂
Shanghai does not need foreigners to survive. Don’t overestimate the importance of foreigners.
Agree. Too many foreigner. As a Shanghai local, we can have less foreigner.😊
It's a shame how this has happened. In 1987 I was teaching in the city at Shanghai University of Technology as an exchage professor of mechanical engineering, What is needed is to bring back cultural exchange programs.
Sure looks like a clear message to the CCP that “you reap what you sow”.
I used to go to this street at least once a week when i was an expat there...... always rememberd the Thai restaurant there having servers with shirts on which read on the back in english "Getting better everyday". I always giggled at that cause that would never happen in Europe. There always was a otherworldly atmosphere there (Western in a sea of China), sad to see it go down like this even when most people knew (even back then) that the music would stop eventually for the chinese economy (cause 10% growth year on year is not sustainable in the long run).
Yes that's right.
I lived in Shanghai from 2019 to the summer of 2020... after the quarantine. I really loved my life there and am saddened by this change. Perhaps things will change for the better in the near future.
Not to mention the death penalty. I don't think I'd dare go to China nowadays.
Back in Mao's days with enduring hardships and "eat bitterness" a heroic and patriotic lifestyle
Take China 30 years to rise fast but only last 3 years to plummet.
Just sad.
xi ping pong is really dropping the ball
that's because it was reliant on the west
@@peterseth3296 Challenging us to what? China is extremely DEEP in debt!! $50trillion + Are they challenging us to a ping pong game?
@@peterseth3296 you don't see biden or trudeau inviting high profile chinese entrepeneur over to stage meetings with false promises n the economy do you????
@@peterseth3296 xxi ping pong is desperate, " come back investors, I was just kidding, it was all a big joke, I'm really a nice guy once you get to know me " hahaha
Who’d have thought if you tell all the foreigners to leave, they’d bring their money with them.
A friend witnessed over a hundred people die in a building fire. They were locked into the building and could not escape when it caught on fire.
NICE!
Hard to go to China when foreigners have a hard time finding hotels that will take them or being able to pay for anything since they only accept phone payments and you need a Chinese phone and bank account for that to happen.
Very true. I am a Chinese who live in US as a US citizen. I went back there about two months ago. It was so difficult to travel and do anything without a Chinese ID and bank account. I had to rely on my brother who is a Chinese citizen to get me around and pay for everything. I installed Alipay international version on my US cellphone and was able to pay most places, however the transaction fee is high, above 3% in average. Before, it was very convenient to visit China. Most international bank cards were accepted. After COVID, it feels like Chinese government went out of their way to make things difficult for foreigners and tourists.
This not a Shanghai only issue, you can feel this all over now. I barely see any expats anymore. Most evenings we go out the shopping areas and streets are empty, no matter the day. Locals also are no longer going out. Shopping at home is easier.... In the area around my apartment most shops are vacant even though it is a super busy area.
Hopefully I'll be dead of natutal causes before the powers that shouldn't be annouces to the world, The NEW WORLD ORDER....
Which area?
@@PM2024- San Francisco
Expat? please, call it “emigrants” , the rest of the world do.
@@EsRoquer no thanks
Nice .. nobody wants to spend money in 🇨🇳
I really enjoy China, its people and its culture. It is heartbreaking to see what the Communist Cult is doing to China. It is my hope that one day the Chinese can throw of the shackles of their opressors and gain ownership over their own country.
Oh, no! Those poor landlords can't overcharge by 15,000 RMB!!! What will they do???
I feel this is just the beginning..the worst is yet to come !!
Prepare for "ecological isolation" to save the planet.
Evil destroying itself
@@geocam2 More like a typical collapse of an economy.
@@geocam2literally communism.
@@geocam2you underestimated the stupidity of Communist leaders.
@@geocam2 ccp is the evil
I lived in Hong Kong doing international trade when the security laws came in it felt unwelcoming and unsafe. In a matter of months the spirit of optimism and enthusiasm had gone. Thus it transpires the same has happened to Shanghai if you make foreigners unwelcome it is no surprise. Blame sits where😢
Had a stopover in Shanghai today. Nanjing Rd was "people mountain people sea" as the idiom goes. Didn't see a single closed shop, and all the restaurants were full or nearly full. Seems as vibrant as ever.
This is a repeat in history This is not the first time that foreigners have left Shanghai.
The Chinese and Japanese emperors had similar attitudes.
They made the application of china visa extremely hard. Ofcourse there will be less people willing to fly to china now to attend exhibits and do tours.
With the new anti-espionage law now in effect? No, thanks. I think I'd rather go elsewhere. The risk is not worth it.
@@ronnelacido1711Yeah I don’t want to visit a country where I may be taken captive by the government to be used as a hostage against my own country.
Smart investors come in when there are a lot of vacancies in housing market. Good location is the key factor for business, such as restaurant, bar etc.
The calapse has begun, pride before the fall.
It is crazy that China, Russia, Brazil and USA are all dying from different self inflicted wounds. There must be an evil force afoot.
Human greed is a powerful force.
USA has the best chance out of all three
@@dennisestradda9746agree
@@geocam2 It may not be dying, but it is most certainly in intensive care. What we do in the next few years may seal our fate!!! If you don't see this, then I want to borrow your "rose-colored" glasses.
China will be around for 100's more years, USA got 10years and then split in to two with a decade long civil war and anarchy.