Zhengzhou in Henan province is a typical Chinese city: skyline defined by largely similar block-shaped buildings, wide thoroughfares cutting through an urban area with high population density, and LED lights brightening the night sky.
As its urban landscape resembles that of many other cities in China, Zhengzhou’s fitful economic recovery from the country’s three years of effective isolation from the rest of world offers a grim glimpse into China’s daunting challenge of thrusting the country back to the status of global economic powerhouse.
Much like the rest of the country, the city's 10 million people were hit hard by the first wave of Covid in early 2020, with incalculable casualties. The high death toll sparked China’s stringent zero-Covid policy, which kept residents indoors for much of the pandemic under lockdown.
Now, as China reopens, Zhengzhou’s economic trajectory is anything but clear.
Young people are fleeing the city, businesses are haunted by diminutive profits. The real estate industry ― once one of China’s fastest growing sectors ― is imploding as developers fail to deliver apartment blocks due to fiscal issues and buyers refuse to repay loans for houses they suspect will never be delivered.
“Many of my friends have left Zhengzhou, and I am probably leaving after I graduate, too,” said Jun Xiang, 24, a graduate student. “There are no jobs, and everyone is complaining that it’s difficult to get money into our pockets now.”
Zhengzhou’s story highlights the general pessimistic attitude many are exhibiting as China prepares to embark on a bumpy recovery.
China is emerging from this painfully disruptive pandemic in worse shape than it has been in decades. In 2022, the world’s most populous country recorded its first population contraction in more than six decades; its economy, the second largest in the world, posted a mere 3 per cent growth in 2022, compared with the double-digit growth at its peak; and the country’s powerful yet reticent leader, Xi Jinping, has also led campaigns to stoke nationalism and created an unwelcoming political environment for foreign businesses.
The Covid pandemic has taken a special toll on China ― the country that witnessed the first documented case of the then-mysterious virus was also the last to effectively exit the pandemic. That came about, during protests on the streets, only late last year,
What is likely to follow this abrupt about-face is China’s aggressive plan to grow its economy and resume its connection with the world, experts said.
“You can’t go any worse than we have seen in the past couple of years,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. After a particularly bad year, China’s economic rebound will again send seismic waves to the global economy and will probably be the biggest economic event of 2023.
However, the public remains on the fence. A quick sampling of businesses across China shows the economic confidence is still shuddering. The fundamental changes that slowed the economy during the past three years are not likely to disappear, according to analysts.
“[The Chinese government] probably underestimated the devastating impact of the pandemic response in the past three years,” Mr Huang said. “That could mean that the future economic growth will no longer be as robust as before.”
It is difficult to accurately predict China’s economic trajectory, but it is not rosy, according to Yale Law School’s Taisu Zhang.
“The economy will grow more than 5 per cent year on year,” Prof Zhang predicted. “But none of the underlying structural problems [demographics, housing bubble, local government debt, relatively low consumption] will significantly improve.”
Behind these structural problems is a bigger theme that defines present-day China’s policies: a powerful government that is growingly intolerant to dissenting opinions. This, according to experts, will eventually drive foreign businesses away.
A number of major corporations are looking to move the supply chain out of China, and some of them are at least trying to diversify the chain to absorb the uncertainty of the Chinese manufacturing status.
“It’s a matter of whether they can still trust the government that they can do business in the country and make a profit as they did before,” Mr Huang said. “It might be difficult to move the supply chain entirely out of the country, but it’s a lack of better choice instead of wanting to stay there.”
More worrisome in the long run for the country, China’s enormous workforce that helped to build the country’s mighty economic empire is showing signs of weakening as its population grows older and smaller.
Years of unforgiving pandemic control measures have left many young people with no will to have children. “We are the last generation,” one man from Shanghai famously responded to the police when asked to be transported for central quarantine. Such sentiment is widely shared as the pockets of China’s population grow thinner.
Jun Xiang is one of those who have decided that she will not have children. “In this environment where many people are losing jobs and no one is able to afford to live a decent life himself, why would we want to have children?”
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
Race card
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 (PA) US$100,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
7.05pm: Meydan Classic Listed (TB) $175,000 (Turf) 1,600m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,600m
8.50pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy Group 2 (TB) $300,000 (T) 2,810m
9.25pm: Curlin Stakes Listed (TB) $175,000 (D) 2,000m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
10.35pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
The National selections
6.30pm: Shahm, 7.05pm: Well Of Wisdom, 7.40pm: Lucius Tiberius, 8.15pm: Captain Von Trapp, 8.50pm: Secret Advisor, 9.25pm: George Villiers, 10pm: American Graffiti, 10.35pm: On The Warpath
if you go
The flights
Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines fly direct from the UAE to Singapore from Dh2,265 return including taxes. The flight takes about 7 hours.
The hotel
Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes.
The tour
Makan Makan Walking group tours costs from SG $90 (Dh245) per person for about three hours. Tailor-made tours can be arranged. For details go to www.woknstroll.com.sg
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Five healthy carbs and how to eat them
Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand
Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat
Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar
Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices
Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants
Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
