Shanghai’s Great Depression: Jobs Gone, Housing Crashes, Families Collapse!

Описание: A friend in Pudong told me his company not only canceled the year-end bonus but also slashed salaries by 30%. He had planned to use the bonus to pay his mortgage, but that plan is gone. Many of my friends in Shanghai are going through the same: some companies are laying off, others cutting pay, or delaying wages. Is every company in Shanghai this desperate now?
One woman said: “I’ve already reduced the house price by 3.3 million yuan in just three months. Sister, this house is worth over 3 million yuan for the view alone, and you’re still asking me to cut more? I can’t—my kid is going abroad to study, and I need the money. Business is collapsing, and I’m forced to sell.”
With China’s economy stalling, layoffs and the infamous “35-year-old threshold” have left countless middle-aged workers trapped—once you lose your job, getting back in is almost impossible. Even those once earning tens of thousands a month now struggle to find work that pays decently.
One blogger wrote: “I can’t change my fate, nor my parents’. Just days ago, my dad’s company dissolved, leaving him jobless at 57. With a younger sister still in school, he can’t rest. I didn’t know how to comfort him—I just sent 5,000 yuan. But the guilt crushed me: I’m too ordinary, too weak to give them a better life.”
Her father keeps searching for work, exhausted, nearly 60, still carrying the weight of the family. She recalled how, in her rebellious years, she used to blame her parents for not making enough money. Only later did she realize they had sacrificed everything—working endlessly, never traveling, never enjoying life—just to keep food on the table.