China the next superpower? Is the media's depiction of the country as a ten-foot giant really accurate? That's dubious. For all its bluster on the global stage, China is a giant in trouble.
Here are some of the reasons we know:
Perhaps the biggest problem in China is its erstwhile "one child" policy, which created many single, self-absorbed adults with poor social skills and an entitlement mindset that included no great desire to marry young and bear the financial burden of offspring. China switched to a two-child policy and recently revised it to allow three children per family. But it's too little, too late. The best result is that in about 20 years, the Chinese population will probably be more than halved anyway, instead of something worse, and the elderly will be a great burden on their single offspring and the economy.
Already only about 10% of China's young population is getting married, which implies an even more precipitous drop in population in the future. China does not encourage immigration from abroad, so a precipitous drop in population will have a drastically bad impact on a shrinking economy and even on the social life of the average Chinese.
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