A top economist has joined the growing list of China’s elite to have disappeared from public life after criticizing Xi Jinping, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Zhu Hengpeng served as deputy director of the Institute of Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) for around a decade.
CASS is a state research think tank that reports directly to China’s cabinet. Chen Daoyin, a former associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, described it as a “body to formulate party ideology to support the leadership.”
According to the Journal, the 55-year-old disappeared shortly after remarking on China’s sluggish economy and criticizing Xi’s leadership in a private group on WeChat.
Things are afoot in the Hundred Acre Wood.
Wait but Hexbear said that China is a democracy? Did they lie?!??
I had the most hilarious discussion with a Tankie about China a while back. They refused to accept that China is pretty much communist in name only. I pointed out that they had billionaires, privately-owned companies, a stock exchange and private property, meaning you can earn capital in China.
The Tankie actually said something on the lines of, “If you would JUST READ MARX you would know that earning capital is a fundamental cornerstone of communism!”
Tankies are just communist cosplayers.
That’s probably the smartest tankie in existence
This is actually hilarious
maybe they’re just trying to avoid dissapearing
People complain when Trump and Biden puts tariffs on Chinese products or try to ban Chinese software, or invest hundreds of billions into bringing manufacturing back to the US, but it’s like they just can’t comprehend what a horrific government China has, between an authoritarian police state and leveraging slave labor to take over global industries, they’re a huge threat to freedom everywhere.
Western media talking about “disappearances” is always the funniest thing to me. If somebody just goes like a week without appearing on TV, they can say they “disappeared,” and the audience will immediately assume that they’re in some black site with a bag over their head. If they show up the next week and tell everyone they’re fine, then they have plausible deniability since they never actually said anything bad happened to them. Of course, then you’ve got your audience primed to believe that something’s up and can write another headline like, “Questions remain regarding the disappearance of so-and-so.” Once you get a name trending, it doesn’t matter what the facts are.
I remember coming under fire from an irl friend over the “disappearance” of tennis player Peng Shuai… until she reappeared, and the International Olympic Committee confirmed that she was perfectly fine. The only evidence that anything bad had happened to her was the lack of a public appearance, but then, after making public appearances, the story didn’t die, instead each new appearance simply gave the media more to talk about, keeping it in the public consciousness and always insisting that “questions remain.”
Of course, that’s not even mentioning all the times the media doesn’t just claim a “disappearance” but just outright lies about these things. If Business Insider can’t even muster up a “detained,” it’s pretty safe to assume it doesn’t mean anything. And of course, if someone says anything critical of the government, then they are immediately absolved of any and all suspicion of having committed actual crimes - absolutely zero investigation into the charges of corruption is needed for everyone to conclude with 100% certainty that they’re trumped up.
I can’t wait to see how many downvotes I can get lmao.
I try to take such claims seriously and I think we all should, just in case there’s any truth to them and someone is actually kidnapped. Of course knowing that they may not have been. Flagging certain individuals as potentially at risk isn’t wrong per se. But I get your point about how it is a relatively easy claim to make and exploitable politically. Still, I think it should be taken seriously, just in case.
Guess Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey was closer to the real story than the originals by Milne…
If you think the Chinese economy is bad now, wait 15 years. No amount of sending economists to the gulag will hide this disaster.
Edit: tankie downvotes are like nectar of the gods to me. Your precious CCP will wither like a plant in the desert.
Who thinks Chinese economy is bad now??
Sure, China will certainly collapse, as they have said since the 1990s.
What a stark example of Mao’s legacy (look at the dip between ages 60 and 65).
I’ve already been banned from Hexbear. Bunch of assclowns over there.
Edit: and now lemmygrad
Lemmy.ml next?
Why do you think Israel needs a fucking iron dome? Bunch of virgin clowns in here.
This you?
Oh the cockroaches have showed up
What is this supposed to show?
This is what a healthy population looks like:
Even then, it isn’t healthy, just healthier. The USA is still going to going to experience economic issues of a growing elderly population, it just won’t be as bad.
The US have the benefit of essentially limitless immigration that they can adjust at will. On the other hand, China’s leadership, being Han supremacist, is not receptive to immigration at all.
Immigration definitely helps, especially compared to China. I’m just noting that there will still be some decrease in the ratio of retired workers to current workers.
Have you… have you seen how Americans have been talking about the border? Especially this election cycle? I don’t know if would characterize either party’s constituencies as “receptive”.
It’s all talk. Corpos crave dirt cheap desperate immigrant workers and will make sure neither party messes this up.
According to the United Nations, in 2019, the United States, Germany, and Saudi Arabia had the largest number of immigrants of any country
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_immigrant_and_emigrant_population
Was there supposed to be some argument or statement attached to this source, or…?
You realize there’s more to immigration than the border between Mexico and the US, right?
I know they ignore it, but you don’t have to follow along with them.
50 million immigrants in the US, and that data is 5 years old. Germany comes in second with 13 million. It’s not even close. I don’t see how a demographic crisis could happen, even if they hypothetically cut immigration in half
thicc
Basically, yes. The sides are nearly parallel, which is great. Compare with China’s, which forms a steep V. Once GenX hits retirement age they are completely screwed. The CCP’s recent push for “traditional family values” and increased birth rates is no coincidence.
The birthing rates are only dropping, in 15 years all of those people will be to old to work but there are not nearly enough to replace them.
Thank you for the clarification.
Still waiting
The glorious economy is always in the shitter it seems.
Enjoy the 996 becoming 7-10-7
What gives workers even less time to be consumers, making China even more dependant on overseas markets.
What does this mean?
996 = working from 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week, work schedule practiced currently in many companies in China
7-10-7 = I’m guessing 7am to 10pm, 7 days a week because of worker shortage?
996 is a term the Chinese use to describe working 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week.
I’ll have the Pooh Pooh platter
I said no salt!
Omg he really does look like Winnie the pooh
Oh, do they fall out of windows in China too?
No they just get sent to Lake Laogai for…reeducation.
Is that another word for disintegration?
More like re-integration by way of re-education. Forced re-education.
Pretty sure it’s Soviet Union for torture and murder 🤷
I think Russia copyrighted that technique.
Truly no emperor has ever worn such fine clothes as our beloved Xi. This will absolutely never backfire on them
Dictator
Angyy dragon emperor uwu
Business Insider - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Business Insider:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Mostly Factual - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceThe Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for The Guardian:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this sourceWall Street Journal - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Wall Street Journal:
MBFC: Right-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Mostly Factual - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceSearch topics on Ground.News
https://www.businessinsider.com/zhu-hengpeng-china-economist-disappears-after-criticizing-xi-jinping-wechat-2024-9
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/16/what-the-isolationist-qing-dynasty-tells-us-about-xi-jinpings-china
https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-gdp-macro-policy-retail-demand-labor-market-forecast-2024-9
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/top-economist-in-china-vanishes-after-private-wechat-comments-50dac0b1
