Recently released consumer market research report indicates a significant outflow of permanent residents from major Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. But who are these people? And why are they leaving the big cities?
Two institutions collaborating closely in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) market research field—Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel—jointly released the “2025 China Shopper Report, Series One” on June 12. The report mentions that “population outflow is one of the reasons for the decline in the FMCG market in first-tier cities. In 2024, the number of permanent residents in Shanghai decreased by 72,000, and in Beijing, it decreased by 26,000.”
“Permanent residents” in Chinese population statistics generally refer to “people who actually reside in a certain area for over six months.”
Jiang Pinchao, President of the American Finance & Real Estate Investment Company, told Epoch Times that many of those who are moving from big cities to small cities or even rural areas are unemployed workers in manufacturing, construction, and related service industries.
He cited the example of over 200,000 workers in Zhengzhou at Foxconn, manufacturing Apple’s iPhone. Now that Apple has decided to move iPhone production to Southeast Asian countries like India, many Foxconn workers are facing unemployment.
Jiang pointed out that it’s not just Apple and iPhone manufacturers leaving China; many American and European companies are pulling investments out of China, essentially decoupling from the Chinese economy.
He further explained that after China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, a large influx of foreign capital and foreign companies into China fueled the manufacturing sector, leading to growth in construction and related service industries, from finance to hotels, and even small eateries, all experiencing rapid development.
In Jiang’s view, when Xi Jinping engaged in a confrontation with the United States, the U.S. started pulling the economic rug out from under the Chinese Communist Party. China has already lost its status as a “manufacturing powerhouse,” resulting in many manufacturing workers losing jobs, as well as construction and service industry workers, many of whom are migrant workers.
“With no job in the big cities and the need to make a living, having to split a dime into two, where can they go? What can they do? The consumption levels in big cities are too high, so they have no choice but to move away,” Jiang said.
Former mainland rights lawyer Wu Shaoping told Epoch Times that those leaving the big cities are not just migrant workers, but people from various social groups.
He believes the outflow of population from big cities is an “inevitable and era-made problem” because the overall environment in big cities is deteriorating. “Currently, job opportunities in big cities are diminishing, the business environment is worsening, so many people are leaving.”
Wu told Epoch Times that many of his clients in Shanghai are businessmen from Fujian who are now leaving Shanghai to return to Fujian because they can no longer make money in Shanghai.
“Why can’t they make money anymore? This indicates that the economic situation in Shanghai is deteriorating, the opportunities to make money are shrinking, so they have to leave Shanghai,” Wu said. “These businessmen are at the forefront of the economy; they can best feel the pulse of the entire market.”
Wu stated that the population outflow from big cities in China is not just due to an economic downturn, but also the result of the overall environment deteriorating due to the Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive policies.
He mentioned that Shanghai started clearing out the “urban-rural junction” in 2016, a year earlier than Beijing initiated the “clearance of low-end populations.” Subsequently, Shanghai began clearing out “low-end markets” in 2018, under the guise of “industrial upgrading.” Some of his clients were victims at that time.
He noted that some people spent hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy shops, only to be asked to close down after renovating and not compensated; others had been operating for decades, running their businesses and living stable lives, only to be abruptly forced to shut down. Almost all of these “low-end markets” were cleared out, causing a large population group to leave Shanghai.
He said, aside from the natural law of economic development in Shanghai’s worsening economic conditions, the tyrannical interference of the Chinese Communist Party in the market also played a role in the economy’s decline. “They forcibly destroyed this market. The economic crisis in Chinese society was created by the Chinese Communist Party themselves.”
He mentioned that the Shanghai merchants were once very supportive of the Chinese Communist Party, but after experiencing the Party’s heavy-handed policies, “they finally woke up” and realized the Party’s evil nature.
Shanghai, being the most Westernized, sophisticated, and open city in China, during the pandemic lockdown period, not only saw the economy “completely collapse,” but it also dealt a massive blow to the psychological well-being of Shanghainese.
Wu stated that Xi Jinping is willing to “sacrifice the national interests of the entire country for personal dictatorship,” and Li Qiang, who was the Shanghai Communist Party Secretary at the time, carried out Xi Jinping’s “backward policies” in pursuit of becoming China’s Premier.
He mentioned that after the economic downturn, various departments such as industry and commerce, taxation, and urban management in Shanghai started going to companies for “extortion and blackmail,” escalating the situation. “As the situation worsens, people leave, the economy deteriorates, the government does worse things to grab money, further exacerbating the trend.”
“When people see no hope, no fairness, justice, or future in a place, they choose to leave,” he concluded.