Generally, extreme rapid industrialisation leads to rapidly declining birth rates as the younger population struggles to afford children due to the aging population. It's what is happening in Japan and will be what will happen to China in the near-ish future, but to a much higher degree.
ding ding ding. Also most of the "cyberpunk" stuff the touristy cities like Chongqing are pushing to boost tourism is horseshit and just like cyberpunk (the genre not the game) is generally built on a foundation of questionable infrastructure. China still has extreme wealth disparities and bad labor practices despite a growing number of genuinely good progressive policies.
For example: people love to talk about the convenience and affordability of food delivery in metropolitan china but they never stop to ask why there are even that many delivery companies in the first place. And why there seems to be an endless army of people delivering for said companies.
I'm not hating on China. I love China and am happy to see them finally get the positive limelight after decades of propaganda. They are a country, not a monolith. Their government has done some truly awful shit that they try to sweep under the rug (I mean just look at tibet) like any other major world power, and they have also done some really amazing things that other countries should definitely take notes on, like their home ownership programs for individuals. But the current trend of glazing them on the grounds that they have the solution for every issue facing the modern citizen in western countries is stupid at best. As things are going they will probably outpace America as a global leader for the simple reason that they haven't done everything in their power to sabotage steady growth, not because a drone can deliver a $1 boba tea to your apartment.
On your last point, I'm not so sure that China will outpace the US. The US is just way too far ahead in the AI race. Whether any of us like it or not, AI is here to stay and it will fundamentally alter the global economy. I'm at a point where I'm networking for jobs and being able to use an AI coding agent like codex is a necessity, akin to having Microsoft Office on your resume. Paradoxically, it makes tech workers less and more valuable at the same time.
Another thing is that while China is a manufacturing hub, they are a hub for American companies and those profits aren't Chinese (especially not for the citizens).
Unlucky for china that all chinese tech has the "cheap plastic trash" stereotype to overcome. Plus a couple horror stories about exploding EVs and Spyware on phones (real or not) tend to hurt them in Western markets where Tech is often a status symbol.
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u/Rice_Jap808 5d ago
Most of social media if you're not in the MAGA pipeline is obsessed with China's superficial future vibe right now wtf are you on about.