What is the final ending for a “Beijing drifter”? Today I received a message on WeChat from a high school classmate. Because they still cannot obtain a Beijing hukou, they have no choice but to take their child back to their hometown for middle school later this year. This is already the third friend I know who has quietly packed up and left Beijing this year. After drifting here for more than ten years, the problems that once seemed distant—hukou restrictions, unbearable housing prices, children’s education, and aging parents—have suddenly become heavy chains dragging down countless “Beijing drifters.” More and more families are quietly leaving, their suitcases filled not with success, but with exhaustion and disappointment.

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China's economic downturn has persisted for some time, and statistics show that the age of homeless people is decreasing. In many large cities, an increasing number of young people are spending the night in parks or under bridges.
On September 26, 2025, Caixin.com published a report stating that Chen Ronghui of the National Bureau of Data Science organized 34 provincial-level survey agencies to conduct a comprehensive survey of the homeless population nationwide. Data showed that as of the end of August, there were approximately 47.5 million homeless people in China, a 5.3-fold increase compared to 2020. Of this group, 61% were under 33 years old, and 25% were over 60 years old.

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China’s High-Speed Rail Crisis: Japan–Germany Ban Stops Critical Supply

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The war in Iran has sent shockwaves across global energy markets, leaving many countries that depend on Iranian oil in a difficult position. As supply routes become unstable and geopolitical tensions intensify, the fear of shortages spreads rapidly through the international oil trade. Import-dependent economies suddenly face higher costs and uncertainty. China, one of the world’s largest energy consumers, feels this pressure immediately. The ripple effect of the conflict travels thousands of kilometers from the Middle East to Asia. What began as a regional war is now shaking energy security across entire continents.
The price of oil is going up again. Oil prices have risen once more. Let’s see why the gas stations have suddenly become so crowded. Yesterday, several major oil supplies were reportedly halted. The war itself may not have expanded yet, but the tension has clearly intensified. This time they finally found an excuse and seized the opportunity. Oil trucks are heading toward the Yautun branch station. Come on, let’s go and take a look. Oil shipments are being sent toward the factories. The old street is crowded again, but there is still no oil available. Many gas stations have already closed. We have been waiting in line for one or two hours. Where is that car? They are all here. Every vehicle is carrying oil barrels. Yesterday we came here too, but we couldn’t even get into the station. That car has already run out of fuel. Alright, let’s line up again with another car. Let’s go.

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Can you imagine it? Mexico, facing the Pacific Ocean, is one of the country’s main international trade hubs. At the center of this system is Port of Manzanillo, the nation’s largest gateway for maritime trade, handling roughly 40 percent of Mexico’s container traffic. Yet something strange has begun happening at this vast seaport. Nearly 900 containers have been abandoned, a figure that is about 300 percent higher than the year before. Many of these containers are suspected of holding counterfeit or imitation goods, and the scale of the discovery has shocked both authorities and exporters.
A friend of mine called me recently, his voice trembling. He told me that one of his shipments was among those containers sent to Mexico. Each container, he said, carried goods worth around 400,000 yuan, while the shipping cost alone was about 30,000 yuan. When multiplied across hundreds of containers, the losses quickly escalate. Even by conservative estimates, if only forty containers are involved, the total value could reach tens of millions of yuan. For businesses dealing in metal accessories and similar products, a single 20-foot container can easily be worth over 1.2 million yuan. This is not simply a matter of gambling with cargo. These containers represent months of factory labor, overtime wages, and the hopes of entire families who depend on those shipments.

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China’s much-advertised anti-stealth radar has just met its harshest reality check — real war. What Beijing sold as a “stealth killer” has instead become little more than expensive scrap scattered across Iranian radar sites.
In January 2026, Tehran rushed to deploy the Chinese YLC-8B long-range surveillance radar, a UHF-band system promoted as capable of detecting stealth aircraft such as the F-35 and even the B-2 bomber at hundreds of kilometers. Chinese marketing claimed it could spot stealth targets at roughly 350 km and track ballistic missiles up to 700 km away.
On paper, it sounded like a technological miracle. In combat, it barely survived its first test.
When U.S. and Israeli aircraft launched coordinated strikes over Iran, the supposedly “advanced” Chinese radar network failed to detect or stop the attacks. Multiple YLC-8B systems were reportedly destroyed or neutralized during the initial electronic warfare assault, raising serious doubts about the real effectiveness of Chinese air-defense technology.

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