In recent days, news of a 94-year-old female employee at China Gold Company who jumped off a building after being unable to repay her mortgage following a pay cut has gone viral on Chinese social media platforms. The topics of “pay cut,” “mortgage,” and “jumping off the building” quickly became trending on Weibo. The public discussion on the three reasons that led to this woman’s tragic end has drawn attention to the crisis faced by people in China trapped in the phenomenon known as “information cocoon housing.”
Multiple related images have been circulating online, including a photo of a woman attempting to jump off a high-rise building and a man posting an obituary announcing the death of his beloved wife Zheng Wenlu in Shanghai on July 1st, at the age of 30. A farewell ceremony was held on July 5th.
China Gold Company responded to the circulating incident by stating that a staff member in the Shanghai region recently passed away, expressing deep sorrow over the sudden event. The company promptly set up a special team to handle the matter in collaboration with the employee’s family, emphasizing the importance of respecting the privacy of the deceased and urging against spreading rumors. However, the response did not mention the cause of the employee’s death.
According to sources claimed to be insiders of the company speaking to the media, the woman involved in the incident was only 30 years old and worked in the FICC department (Fixed Income, Foreign Exchange, and Commodities Business Department) of China Gold Company in Shanghai.
Currently in China, there are many cases of people committing suicide by jumping off buildings or into rivers every day. Why has the news of a young woman allegedly jumping off a building garnered such widespread attention? Information circulating on social media indicates that the experience of this woman named Zheng Wenlu is a dream and goal pursued by numerous Chinese individuals.
Based on information from social media platforms, Zheng Wenlu was born in 1994 and was a graduate of the Zhu Kezhen College of Zhejiang University, holding a master’s degree in finance. After graduating, she entered the financial giant, China Gold Company, with an annual salary exceeding one million.
The reasons circulated online for Zheng Wenlu’s suicide include postpartum depression, a significant drop in property value after purchasing a luxury home in Shanghai in 2023, and a recent salary cut by the company. The salary reduction was seen as condemning Zheng Wenlu to become a “mortgage slave,” shattering the dreams of the middle class and being cited as a key reason for the China Gold employee’s tragic end.
An employee at the China Gold Company headquarters reportedly informed mainland media that there is indeed a situation of salary cuts at the company, with some positions seeing a reduction of salaries by as much as a third compared to before.
In recent years, looking at the annual reports released by various listed securities firms, salary reductions have become a reality in the industry, with investment banks like China Gold Company beginning to cut salaries. The reduction ranges from around 2% to over 10%.
According to data from the Wind financial database, among the major securities firms, China Securities accounted for the highest average annual salary of around 800,000 RMB (approximately 110,000 USD) in 2023, a decrease compared to the previous over or close to a million RMB (approximately 140,000 USD), signifying a significant decrease. This also means that the controversial notion of the securities sector’s “million-yuan average salary” is now history.
China Gold Company, at the center of this storm, ranked second in terms of average annual salary in 2023, with approximately 700,000 RMB (approximately 96,000 USD), marking a decline of about 15% from 2022.
Wind’s data further reveals that from 2021 to 2023, China Gold Company’s average annual salary dropped from 1.1643 million RMB (approximately 160,000 USD) to 700,400 RMB (approximately 96,000 USD), showing a decrease of 463,900 RMB (approximately 64,000 USD), with a cumulative decrease of 39.84%. As of 2024, there seems to be no sign of relief from the trend of salary reductions.
According to information from social media platforms, Zheng Wenlu and her husband purchased a luxury home in Shanghai last year valued at 18 million RMB (approximately 2.48 million USD), with a total loan amount of over 11 million RMB (approximately 1.51 million USD), requiring them to pay nearly 60,000 RMB (approximately 8,250 USD) in mortgage payments per month for a 30-year term. In the midst of an economic downturn, the mortgage brought immense financial pressure.
In 2023, China’s real estate market was in turmoil, with the “house price to income ratio” in Shanghai that year being the highest globally. The drastic upheaval caused by real estate giants like Evergrande and Country Garden led to ripple effects shaking the entire Chinese real estate market, with the collapse of the Shanghai property market being considered only a matter of time. Why did Zheng Wenlu and her husband go against the trend, purchase a luxury home at a high price, and make such an irrational choice? This became a point of public interest.
Statistical data from the Numbeo website indicates that in 2023, Shanghai topped the global ranking of “house price to income ratio” at 50.1, followed by Beijing at 35.6, Paris at 19.4, Tokyo at 12.4, and New York at 10. In other words, buying a home in Shanghai in 2023 would require a Shanghai household to spend around 50 years of disposable annual income.
Writing for the prominent Chinese news portal Sohu, the veteran commentator “Lo Sir Professional Talk” expressed that the domestic real estate market is entering a downward cycle, and drawing from the experience of real estate bubbles bursting in countries like Japan, “today’s decline in housing prices may only be the beginning, not the end.” As a standout in the financial industry, the China Gold female employee’s biggest mistake was having a “single source of information.”
“Lo Sir Professional Talk” remarked that with the worsening economic conditions in the country, salary cuts are an inevitable trend for financial institutions like China Gold Company, stating that “if a middle-class elite in the financial industry would suffer great losses due to misjudgment of major trends, then the situation of ‘information cocoon housing’ for other individuals in the country will only worsen.”
Regarding the imprudent choice of the China Gold female employee, seasoned current affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan stated on his social media channel on July 2nd, “The only rational explanation is that she (Zheng Wenlu) expected the real estate market to hit rock bottom and rebound, with the possibility of future growth. Her judgment aligns perfectly with China Gold Company’s top ten predictions for 2024.”
China Gold Company’s top ten predictions for 2024 include the following: 1. Steady economic recovery in China; 2. Bullish on A-shares; 3. U.S. economy facing recession; 4. Bearish on U.S. stocks; 5. Bullish on Hong Kong stocks; 6. Renminbi appreciation; 7. Bearish on the U.S. Dollar; 8. U.S. inflation falling; 9. Recovery in China’s real estate market; 10. Bullish on leading securities firms.
Public records show that the full name of China Gold Company is China International Finance Co., Ltd., the largest investment bank in China, founded in 1995, with Zhu Yunlai, the son of former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, serving as its CEO for many years.
Furthermore, China Gold Company made the following top ten predictions for 2023: 1. Increased pressure on the U.S. for recession, with China expected to achieve global-leading recovery in 2023; 2. A-shares and Hong Kong stocks expected to show significant positive returns in 2023, with Hong Kong stocks outperforming A-shares in stages; 3. Post-pandemic demand repair may lead to periods of domestic inflation pressure; 4. Loose monetary policies in China to ease, central interest rate heading upward, asset-based assets outperforming bonds; 5. Real estate sales area rebounding and turning positive growth, with some areas witnessing upward pressure on housing prices; 6. Despite the recession in the U.S. and the active destocking cycle, China’s exports may still face pressure; 7. With the gradual fading out of the epidemic’s impact, the consumption industry is a key area for significant excess returns in 2023; 8. The internet and pharmaceutical industries are expected to experience a turnaround in 2023; 9. Overall improvement in A-share and Hong Kong stock capital, with gradual return of overseas funds; 10. The U.S. Dollar trend may see a turning point in the second half, with the Renminbi experiencing fluctuation and strengthening.
Regarding the top ten predictions of China Gold Company for 2023, almost none of them turned out to be correct, making the company the biggest joke of 2023, devoid of credibility.
Tang Jingyuan pointed out that in the past, China Gold Company could access high-level internal information and secure many projects with the background of princelings, making profits that other companies could not obtain, instilling a strong belief in the “reliability” of internal information among many employees. However, faced with the substantial economic decline in present-day China, fabricating an “economic bright outlook” has become the “politically correct” stance of China Gold Company, leading Zheng Wenlu and countless Chinese individuals to be sacrificed in the supposed economic recovery scam concocted by the Chinese Communist Party.