How China's aging society pushes Xi to rethink population policies

Xi Jinping recently shared his thoughts in Qiushi journal showing a new way to look at Chinas population problems. Instead of worrying about numbers he wants to make people more skilled and smart (which he calls high-quality population development)

The idea isnt really new though - its called suzhi and its been around for ages; making some not-so-nice differences between city and country folk. Now Xi says its his own new idea but really hes just putting a fresh coat of paint on an old-fashioned concept

The country faces some real head-scratchers with its getting-older population:

• Pension funds might run dry in about 10 years
• Marriage rates dropped by half since early-2010s
• Birth rates hit rock-bottom in 2022
• Young people dont want traditional family life anymore

The hukou system (which ties peoples rights to where they live) makes everything super-complicated; keeping rural folks stuck without good healthcare or schools while big-city people get all the nice stuff. Its like having two different countries in one: fancy Shanghai with its cool elder-care vs poor villages where old farmers work till they cant anymore

The private business world got hit hard when govt started making strict rules couple years back - wiped out tons of money and made everyone super careful about taking risks. Now Xi wants innovation but companies are too scared to try new things

High-quality population development is a new concept

Other countries have their own stories: Japan got stuck cause it waited too long to fix things; South Korea tried throwing money at people to have babies (didnt work); Germany found success with letting in workers from outside - but China wont do that

The whole thing is pretty messy: Xi wants change but doesnt want to loosen his grip on power. Without fixing the basic problems like the hukou system housing costs and work-life stuff nothing much will change