Xi's new population plan shows China's hidden social divide

Xi Jinping wrote in party magazine Qiushi about his new take on population issues; focusing on quality over quantity (a concept known as suzhi). His text shows a shift from old-style thinking towards innovation-based growth but theres some hidden meaning behind these words

The idea of suzhi isnt new in China — its been used to separate city people from village folks for many years: creating an un-spoken divide between so-called high-quality and low-quality groups. Now Xi claims he made up this “high-quality population growth“ idea himself which seems like a re-brand of old thoughts

The hukou system (which ties peoples rights to where they live) makes things worse — it keeps many workers stuck in poor areas while rich cities like Shanghai have good hospitals and schools. Some older farmers in places like Liaoning have to work past 70 because they dont have proper support

Marriage numbers dropped big-time about 2 years ago to 4.8 per 1000 people; birth rates hit record lows too. Young folks dont want traditional family life because:

• Housing costs too much
• Jobs are super-hard to get
• Work-life balance is bad
• Old-fashioned gender roles still exist

The money situation looks rough: pension funds might run dry in about 11 years. Private business got hit hard when Xiʼs government cracked down on big companies around 3 years ago — wiping out lots of money and trust

Other countries have similar problems: Japan waited too long to fix things; South Korea tried giving money to boost births but it didnt work. Germany used immigration to help but China wont do that. Xi talks about change but his tight control makes real progress hard to achieve