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The sun rises over China and with it the aspirations of the Chinese people. The government has long touted the Chinese dream, promising prosperity to those who work hard and help propel their country into the global elite. But the boom is over. A lot of young people can't find jobs and don't want to work as hard as their parents did. So what are their dreams? We'll be spending a day and a night alongside a generation that's breaking with tradition. They're nonconformist, original, and given the nature of Chinese society, brave. It's a quiet rebellion. Heat.
Beijing's streets are almost completely gridlocked. There are accidents all the time. Some drivers don't look behind them when they turn. I ride my motorbike pretty fast. Sometimes I have to slam on the brakes. The traffic in China's capital can feel like anarchy in this otherwise strictly monitored country. OneQing recently started working as a food delivery driver, not entirely by choice. None of my friends deliver food. But in May, my old company laid off 60% of the staff. When she gets home, Wanqing is greeted as always by her pets she shares her home with. From four-legged friends to some more exotic pets.
Suddenly, there was this unexpected change, and I had to deal with it. My company probably wanted some fresh blood, so I got laid off. According to China's official figures, nearly one in five young people are unemployed. Suddenly, my income is gone. That puts pressure on me. There's the rent to pay. How do I make ends meet? Plus, the dog needs to go to the vet. I had saved up some money before it happened. My parents also helped me out.
My delivery job is how I make money for food. Whatever I earn, that's how much food I can eat. Mom's leaving now. You two be good. Okay. Hopefully, it won't take one too long to earn enough money for dinner. China's once rapid economic boom has slowed. For many young people, working odd jobs while they look for a permanent position has become part of life. Fang Jin Tao is 23. He went to college, started his own business, and then went bankrupt. In a few days, he'll be changing jobs again. In China, we believe that it's always better to have your own company than to be an employee.
I'm thinking about how much money I can make today, what my income will be. At the same time, I worry about things like the weather. When it rains or if it's really hot, then people don't want to go outside to eat, so business is slower. I've been doing this for just under a year now. It's the family business. I'm good at it because I'm very outgoing. I like being around people. I can clearly remember my first day. I made 800 y, which is almost €100. My customers work in the offices around here. I also get drivers and workers from the construction site next door.
Shonjun is home to some major tech companies. The work culture here is known as 9 to 6. People work from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 6 days a week. In this mega city, it's easy to get a glimpse of the future, like when food is delivered to the park by drone. But the street food stalls don't fit that image. Vendors like Fangin Tao are being pushed off the streets. You can make surprisingly good money with a street store, but business isn't very stable. And things aren't going as well as they used to. My family has finally saved up enough money to open a restaurant. Right now, we're renovating. We'll be opening soon. Fangin Tao plans to visit the site of the new restaurant later. Like so many others, he wants to be his own boss.
Starting a business is quite easy in China, but keeping it going is another matter. From Shonjun, we head 900 km into the countryside to a remote village. From the nearest airport, it's another 5 hours by car. But even out here, there's fast 5G mobile internet. My family doesn't want me to live like this. I mostly earn money through social media. I was born here in Bangan, our village. I went to school here. Then I left and moved to the city to study. After that, I did an internship at a financial firm. It's not my thing to just sit in an office and constantly look at reports.
Addio has moved back to the countryside to live with his parents. He loves being surrounded by nature. Today he's showing some friends from the city around. You should walk barefoot. It feels really good. The sandy soil is good for vegetables. With a little fertilizer, it's no problem. The people in our village grow everything they eat themselves. We don't have to buy rice from outside. me. Look up there. The mountain breeze blows completely free. My personality is like that. Like the wind.
Like a wind. The internet is an important window to the world. I have lots of friends on Tik Tok. When I talk to them, I realize there are so many things I've never even heard of. Right now, my main source of income is social media videos. In the future, I'd also like to sell products from my hometown on these platforms. Adao has around 100,000 followers on social media. He posts about life in his village. His rural content appeals to city dwellers dealing with the stresses of urban life.
My family doesn't want me to live like this after finishing my degree. I don't talk to my parents much about it. We don't talk about feelings as directly as you do in the West. You hug family members a lot. Here in China, that rarely happens. You don't hug your parents or even your friends. Now that my friends are visiting, my father has given them a warm welcome and he's even been cooking for them. That's how he shows me his love. It's clear that life here has changed a lot, especially for our generation. When I was little, the roads in the village were still unpaved. There were pigsty and sheepfolds.
The village was completely isolated. Now it's different. The roads are much better. There's all kinds of infrastructure. We're a modern village now. You can use your cell phone to make a payment just like everywhere else in China. Life here seems a long way from the government's Chinese dream and its ambitions of global power. Many young people have a longing for nature and a simpler life. But that too is a consequence of China's job crisis. It's different here from the city. In the city, there aren't genuine relationships where people help each other. In the city, everyone just lives their own life.
Sometimes my thoughts are completely different from other people's. My dream? I don't have any big ambitions. I just want to have enough money to get by so that I can do what I want and look after my vegetable garden. Back to the Chinese capital, 2,500 km north. For decades, China was on an upward trajectory. But the boom years are over, and people like Wqing are feeling the effects. Despite having completed university, she spends her days delivering food. Overall, the situation is pretty bad. I used to work at a state-owned real estate company in the marketing department. In May, 60% of our employees were laid off. Some of them then became food couriers or taxi drivers. In China, you can order just about
anything through an app, from charging cables to dumplings. A corer will bring the item to your door within half an hour, but those performing this service are paid next to nothing. Right now, Wqing's parents pay for her rent and the gas for her motorbike. Delivering food is her way of covering at least part of her expenses. She often still has trouble finding the correct address. What happens if you're late? Uh, I get less money. Yeah, less money.
I had three orders today. Not much at all. 21 yuan, which is €250. What can you buy with that? some vegetables which I'll cook at home. I won't be able to order food. I need to get my life together on my own. I'm already 38. I definitely don't want to be dependent on my parents forever. too long. I want to switch industries and start selling insurance. To do that, she's currently studying for an exam with the help of an app.
I got eight out of 10 questions wrong. Things aren't looking good for my exam next week. After the exam, we'll find out whether she's one step closer to her dream of a new career. My teacher and I know each other well. We trust each other. I really want to pass the entrance exam for the Master of Arts degree. Air Mau hopes to attend one of China's best art schools, but even then there's no promise of a successful career. Still, she's following her dream. She's spending a year living and learning with her art teacher. When you box, you can't stop. The paint
just flows. Boxing and painting complement each other. Right now, passing the exam is really important to me. I want a better education, a better starting point for my career so that I can give my family a better life. No. People often ask me about my tattoo. I draw with this hand. In China, there's a word shoga which means something like feeling. When I draw, I feel a lot. My hope is that my brush strokes flow like clouds and water guided by inspiration. We have to trust each other. Otherwise, we couldn't live in the same apartment. His teaching style is good for students like me.
He makes it seem like he doesn't care what I'm doing. But if I make a mistake somewhere and I haven't noticed it yet, he suddenly comes over and tells me be bolder. Don't worry if it's too thick. You can fix that. My approach is quite unusual, unconventional, but it's the best way. Air Mau's teacher relies on creative chaos. His students, young and old, don't just come for a 1-hour lesson. They spend the whole day here. I don't even notice that there are so many people around me. When I take a break and find everyone around me happy and content, I feel so full of energy, so real and alive. For me, the essence of art has always
been that we enjoy it together. In this atmosphere, even those who are more interested in boxing than art eventually pick up a pencil and start drawing. Just as art student Mao is investing time in her future, so too is street food vendor Fang Gin Tao. His dream being his own boss and not having to work so hard anymore. Now that I'm done selling food, I'll head to where we're building the restaurant. There's a better future waiting for me there.
His father is already waiting for him at the construction site. Fang Jin Tao swaps his t-shirt and food cart for a dress shirt and an SUV. Sure, this car is more comfortable than the food cart. It's enclosed. There's music and air conditioning, but it doesn't make any difference to my mood. The restaurant business is a good industry in China. Everyone knows that Chinese people love to eat. There's so much delicious food here. Some things you don't have to spend money on, like clothes or cell phones, but everyone has to eat.
The relationship between father and son in a Chinese family is very subtle. Actions speak louder than words. I hope our family business will be a success. We're turning our street food carts into a restaurant. If it goes well, we'll open more locations. We're taking it slow, but it's a milestone, a fresh start. I'm looking forward to it. I hope the business will improve and become more stable, but I'm also worried that the business won't do well and that we won't get the return on our investment that we deserve. There's a lot at stake for Fang Ginta's family. All their savings are tied up in the construction project. The grand
opening is coming up soon and there's still a lot of work to do. To those longing to escape the stress of city life, this place must seem like paradise. Here, two women are courageously living their dream, far from the hustle and bustle of their old lives. I studied tourism management. Back in the city, I worked at a hotel. I found there was no boundary between my work life and my private life. It was like I couldn't breathe anymore. We don't want to be trapped in that rat race. We don't want to work for other people. That's why we want to run our own business. When I was in middle school, I wanted to learn how to bake and cook. My mother was against it. She thought the work was
too physically demanding for me. She insisted that I go to high school. I always tell our guests that I'm living my dream here. I have my best friend and my dog by my side and I'm doing what I love. Shoddong's best friend, Guvinced her to take a chance on opening a bakery here. I don't miss the city. Living in the mountains has filled a large part of the emptiness in my life. The two women and their dogs have moved from a city of millions to a mountain village with a population of 20. Instead of the pressures of urban life, they have freedom, cheap rent, and plenty of nature around them.
They also sell the bread from their bakery at the hotel next door. I used to work as a barista and bartender and now I manage this hotel. The village is isolated. There are lots of empty houses and there isn't even a school. But there are charging stations for electric cars and now there's fresh bread every day. Guagua does live streams on social media promoting the hotel and bakery. Good morning everyone. We're here in Shong Village, an ancient village from theQing Dynasty. If you've had enough of the city and you're looking for a place to relax, come here.
A few elderly villagers still live here. It's simple and very picturesque. Just like the locals, you can dry bamboo shoots or grow grain or green tea. Many young Chinese people long to escape the stress of city life. There's even a term for it, tangping or lying flat. Instead of competition and the pressure to perform, they want peace and quiet, a laid-back life as a kind of protest. The idea is completely foreign to the older villagers, but they're happy that the two young women are helping to bring people back to the village.
Otherwise, we wouldn't make any money. When tourists come, it's easier for us to sell our products. In the past, we had to take firewood or vegetables into town to sell. I used to walk all the way there in straw sandals on foot. For me, the mountains and freedom go hand in hand. We're thankful for the hard work of the previous generation. They created good conditions for us so we can pursue our dreams with more courage. Delivery driver Wongqing is also grateful to the previous generation. At 38, she's hoping to reinvent herself. Shortly before her insurance exam, she's meeting her father for dinner.
My dad isn't a typical Chinese father. He's more laidback than traditional Chinese parents. When I was young, I really had dreams. One was to have at least one child of my own. If you don't pass this exam, it's not the end of the world. It might open up other opportunities for you in the future. Here's to doing well on the exam, even if the chances are slim. To your health. Why don't you put that much pressure on your daughter?
Maybe because of my own experiences, my parents treated me badly. They didn't value me. As a child, I was even beaten quite often. From a young age, I was never able to feel the warmth of a family. Later, I went to the countryside to work. There too, I had to make do with very little. During the cultural revolution up until 1976, millions of young educated people were sent from cities to rural areas and forced to do hard labor. When I was your age, when you were just one year old, I worked in a factory. I was oppressed by the supervisors. I had to scrub the toilets and bathrooms and do the most miserable tasks. You can't even imagine it.
Even before oneqing came into my life, I had decided that I wouldn't subject my children to hardship. They must never suffer what I suffered. I wouldn't allow that misery under any circumstances. Before I talked to my dad, I was pretty nervous about the exam. I was under so much pressure and overthinking things. But after talking to my dad, I'm a little calmer. When I was little, I always dreamed of becoming a doctor or a forensic scientist. At the moment, I don't have particularly big ambitions. The most important thing is just to find a job. Right now, one can't afford to dream any bigger than that. Meanwhile, in southern China, in the country's commercial hub, money doesn't often seem to be an issue at all. I feel like I can try anything
and achieve anything I set my mind to. Over the past few years, I founded three companies on my own. I started out as a programmer. Today, I run an AI company among other things. My mother was a role model for me. My father was completely irresponsible. So you could say my mother had to raise four children and one adult or five children basically. One day I really want to travel around the world with my mother. She's never left China. Today I can drop everything at a moment's notice, get in the car and drive into the mountains to watch the sunset or sunrise. Just like that. It's
a huge difference from the previous generation. After work, I drive to the Pearl River. That's where our yacht is mored. I make it available for concerts, car club meetings, wine receptions, and salons. These stylish guys are here for the party. Say hello. When people don't have money, their lives fall apart. Today, there are lots of motorsports fans on our yacht, including some successful entrepreneurs. One of them is the son of a prominent financial dynasty. I've invested in their billion dollar business. Lynn Xiaoing is a self-made woman. Her dream has already come true. Of course, not everyone at this party already has a billiondoll business, but they all dream of it. Only the United States has more
super rich than the People's Republic of China. There are more than 600 Chinese people with a net worth of $1 billion or more. Money. That's it. I just don't have money. Why? Money solves 99% of all problems. Nothing works without money. Alcohol is an absolute must at parties and there have to be girls, ladies, young ladies. And above all, there should be physical contact. Lin Xiao Bing knows what her guests want. This is her recipe for a good party. For us Chinese girls, fair skin is our top priority. Filters are really important. To be honest, I couldn't live without them. Without beauty filters, I feel really insecure.
First, pour the water into our brand new hot pot 2.0. WeChat is the app that runs pretty much everything in China. I added more girls on WeChat tonight. I find it easier to make friends with women. I'd be pretty nervous if a guy added me. For Lynn Xiaoing and her guests, the motto is work hard and party even harder. The next party is already beginning. I think it's important to surround yourself with like-minded people. My social circle is pretty exclusive. We are the new generation. We're going to create lots of new things to enrich the world.
I started at the very bottom too. You have to constantly push yourself, constantly surpass your own limits. You can achieve anything you want, but you have to fight for it. It can be difficult to gauge what young Chinese people think of some things. For example, LGBTQ issues. Although homosexuality is not a criminal offense, talking about it openly or criticizing the current system is considered taboo. Some people are willing to talk about these issues, but not on camera. It's late at night, but for art student Air Mau, the day isn't over yet. She's still studying, working towards her dream. For the university entrance exam, I also
have to study art history and things like that. I'd like to find a job that leaves me with a lot of free time, even if the pay isn't that much. I want to have time in the day for things I enjoy. For example, I like doing puzzles or I'd like to be able to have a dog and take it for walks. I don't want a lot of work pressure. For example, if I want to go somewhere on vacation this week, I want to be able to just go spontaneously. Air Mau says the hectic city of Shan Jon isn't the right place for her. She dreams of living in a smaller town or in the country.
My parents are very supportive. Our family is fairly traditional, but they trust that I'll find my own path. Even though a career in the arts doesn't promise any especially bright future, they're confident that given my skills, at least I won't starve. One of my dreams is for my students to be better than I am. China's younger generation is changing. Their dreams are bigger, more individual, and focused on freedom. I don't want to be a mindless worker. I want to be an interesting spirit. As China's young people increasingly break with traditions, they're speaking more openly about what matters to them. In part two of the Chinese Dream 24
hours in Young China, we'll be spending a night with rock stars, rebels, and princesses. Together in the shadow.
