0x815

In 2018 the Moldovan government launched an initiative to grow the country's IT sector - the Moldova IT Park (MITP).

This isn't a physical business park. Instead it is virtual scheme open to all IT firms in the country - and those that wish to move there from overseas. Firms that sign up only have to pay a corporation tax rate of 7%.

The MITP is part of a wider effort by the Moldovan government to modernise and expand its economy ahead of a bid to join the European Union in 2030.

This drive is being led by Moldova's pro-EU President Maia Sandu, who this week was re-elected for a second term. And last month Moldovans voted "yes" on pro-EU constitutional changes.

[...]

Dumitru Alaiba, Moldova's deputy prime minister and minister for economic development and digitalisation, is positive about where Moldova is heading.

"Moldova in the past 10 to 15 years has really proven that it's a country that can change very fast," he tells the BBC.

"This used to be a highly corrupt country, a country where, exactly 10 years ago, a billion dollars from our central banks just disappeared."

"We are moving very fast towards joining the EU, and we are reforming our economy at top speed. Of course, we have a long way to go."

[...]

Member companies of the MITP don't just benefit from the 7% corporation tax rate. They also don't need to make employer social security contributions, and staff don't have to pay income tax. [...]

The MITP has also simplified immigration procedures through the IT Visa program.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4537438

Archived link

[The article has been published before the U.S. election took place. For the article's content, this is not relevant.]

In the eyes of these Chinese American election volunteers, Kamala Harris is the perfect daughter of an immigrant family. “She is a successful person who has entered mainstream society, a microcosm of the American melting pot: mixed race, a former judge, an attorney general, and finally vice-president,” one volunteer said. “Her CV is what all of us Asians want to foster in our kids, and we Chinese want our next generation to be exactly like her.”

[...]

As we observed and analyzed simplified Chinese posts on X, WeChat Channels, and Douyin (TikTok), where discussions about Harris were concentrated, we found that Harris’s immigrant status and the life experiences of her parents remain important axes that “define” her on this side of the information ecosystem. Interestingly, however, we found that the very narrative that her supporters have tried to put front and center — that she is the exemplary daughter of an immigrant family — is entirely undermined in this ecosystem'

[Still, there are a significant number of Chinese Americans who do not speak English, and who might not have access to the “Harris Briefing” or to her campaign ads. For Mandarin speakers who use simplified characters in the US, if you are an X user, there is a good chance you will access election information sites in your native language].

In the vast majority of narratives we observed, the story portrayed was precisely the opposite: Harris is a disgrace to her immigrant family owing to her failure to excel, and to her alleged indiscretions in her private life. At the same time, the question of Harris’s femininity adds a further layer of complexity to these discussions. What does it mean to be the good daughter of immigrants? What makes a good politician? What makes a good woman?

[...]

**In this world [of Mandarin-speaking Chinese social media], Harris is known by another name — wu ji (烏雞), or “the black chicken” Meanwhile, her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz, is called “Bai Feng,” or “white phoenix.” **Taken together, the first characters in these nicknames, “Wu” and “Bai,” allude to the fact the candidates are darker and lighter-skinned. Together, the two names also come very close to “Wuji Baifeng Wan,” the name of a proprietary Chinese medicine that claims to be “an all-purpose gynecological treatment.” To a certain extent, this coincides with Trump and his supporters calling Walz a “tampon man,” emphasizing the femininity of the Harris-Walz duo, while at the same time drawing the reader’s imagination to the female body and sexual organs. **The word “ji” (雞), the second character in this name for Harris, is even more obscene, directly linking it to the Chinese words for “chicken” and its homophone “prostitute” (妓). **

[...]

When it comes to specifics about Harris, Chinese-language posts tend to be very sparse in terms of real information content. A portion of the posts are simply re-posts of opinion pieces, screenshots, cartoons, and other content from English-language accounts, while the Chinese comments added are at once implicit and quite explicit. They are obscure in the sense that any observer unfamiliar with labels like “the black chicken” (烏雞), “goose giblets” (鵝雜), “Harry crap” (哈里屎), “tampon man” (棉條男), “white duck” (白鴨), “yellow left” (黃左), “mackerel” (​​鮁魚), and “fox” (狐狸), will imagine these are just some form of local dialect, or a secret code.

These words are extremely derogatory to both Harris and Walz. The term “goose giblets,” for example, is a derivation of the slang term “giblets” (杂碎), which can suggest someone is trash. Its pronunciation in Chinese somewhat resembles “Walz,” and so in this case it is used to insult the Democrats’ candidate for vice president. The term “yellow left,” derived from the term “white left” (not unlike the insult “liberal snowflake”), is an insult directed online at Chinese liberals.

[...]

Get past these odd words, though, and the messages inside these posts are the most basic and direct insults, ridicule and propaganda. A few are slightly more measured, like, “to reduce taxes and raise revenues, elect Trump; to increase taxes and get poorer, elect the cockerel.” But many are unmistakable personal and racist attacks: “If Columbus hadn’t discovered the New World, then there wouldn’t be a black chicken like her! Her father would have inherited his ancestral property and kept slaves in Jamaica, and her mother would have self-immolated and died for her husband.”

[...]

[For example], the WeChat channel “Country Road America” focuses on American politics. [...] Quite a number of these posts are about Harris as a woman. Several, posted under the name “Amber Kite” (琥珀風箏), go on and on with stories alleging Harris has used sex for career advancement:

>“When she was just in her 20s she became the mistress of a 60 year old married man (my dad isn’t even 31 years older than me, by the way) as she was looking for the first pot of money in politics from a California establishment figure who was a married man a generation older — it’s just amazing that almost half of Americans tout her as a ‘feminist icon.’” — The Democrats are about to be devoured! The leaders have hand-picked themselves. A descendants of a master poses as a member of the slave class, and a mistress represents women’s rights.

>[...]

>“Brown himself admitted that he had helped Harris get two high-paying jobs in the California state government, and that she made hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue in a few years, and that was 30 years ago. She had no background in the field, and Brown gave her a fancy car, the California version of the BMW.” — The First Bucket of Money for Harris, California’s BMW Woman. [NOTE: “BMW Woman” was a contestant on a Chinese dating show a decade ago, who famously said: “I’d rather cry in a BMW than laugh on the back of a bicycle.” She became a symbol of frivolity.]

[...]

[The article cites many similar examples.]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4537438

Archived link

[The article has been published before the U.S. election took place. For the article's content, this is not relevant.]

In the eyes of these Chinese American election volunteers, Kamala Harris is the perfect daughter of an immigrant family. “She is a successful person who has entered mainstream society, a microcosm of the American melting pot: mixed race, a former judge, an attorney general, and finally vice-president,” one volunteer said. “Her CV is what all of us Asians want to foster in our kids, and we Chinese want our next generation to be exactly like her.”

[...]

As we observed and analyzed simplified Chinese posts on X, WeChat Channels, and Douyin (TikTok), where discussions about Harris were concentrated, we found that Harris’s immigrant status and the life experiences of her parents remain important axes that “define” her on this side of the information ecosystem. Interestingly, however, we found that the very narrative that her supporters have tried to put front and center — that she is the exemplary daughter of an immigrant family — is entirely undermined in this ecosystem'

[Still, there are a significant number of Chinese Americans who do not speak English, and who might not have access to the “Harris Briefing” or to her campaign ads. For Mandarin speakers who use simplified characters in the US, if you are an X user, there is a good chance you will access election information sites in your native language].

In the vast majority of narratives we observed, the story portrayed was precisely the opposite: Harris is a disgrace to her immigrant family owing to her failure to excel, and to her alleged indiscretions in her private life. At the same time, the question of Harris’s femininity adds a further layer of complexity to these discussions. What does it mean to be the good daughter of immigrants? What makes a good politician? What makes a good woman?

[...]

**In this world [of Mandarin-speaking Chinese social media], Harris is known by another name — wu ji (烏雞), or “the black chicken” Meanwhile, her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz, is called “Bai Feng,” or “white phoenix.” **Taken together, the first characters in these nicknames, “Wu” and “Bai,” allude to the fact the candidates are darker and lighter-skinned. Together, the two names also come very close to “Wuji Baifeng Wan,” the name of a proprietary Chinese medicine that claims to be “an all-purpose gynecological treatment.” To a certain extent, this coincides with Trump and his supporters calling Walz a “tampon man,” emphasizing the femininity of the Harris-Walz duo, while at the same time drawing the reader’s imagination to the female body and sexual organs. **The word “ji” (雞), the second character in this name for Harris, is even more obscene, directly linking it to the Chinese words for “chicken” and its homophone “prostitute” (妓). **

[...]

When it comes to specifics about Harris, Chinese-language posts tend to be very sparse in terms of real information content. A portion of the posts are simply re-posts of opinion pieces, screenshots, cartoons, and other content from English-language accounts, while the Chinese comments added are at once implicit and quite explicit. They are obscure in the sense that any observer unfamiliar with labels like “the black chicken” (烏雞), “goose giblets” (鵝雜), “Harry crap” (哈里屎), “tampon man” (棉條男), “white duck” (白鴨), “yellow left” (黃左), “mackerel” (​​鮁魚), and “fox” (狐狸), will imagine these are just some form of local dialect, or a secret code.

These words are extremely derogatory to both Harris and Walz. The term “goose giblets,” for example, is a derivation of the slang term “giblets” (杂碎), which can suggest someone is trash. Its pronunciation in Chinese somewhat resembles “Walz,” and so in this case it is used to insult the Democrats’ candidate for vice president. The term “yellow left,” derived from the term “white left” (not unlike the insult “liberal snowflake”), is an insult directed online at Chinese liberals.

[...]

Get past these odd words, though, and the messages inside these posts are the most basic and direct insults, ridicule and propaganda. A few are slightly more measured, like, “to reduce taxes and raise revenues, elect Trump; to increase taxes and get poorer, elect the cockerel.” But many are unmistakable personal and racist attacks: “If Columbus hadn’t discovered the New World, then there wouldn’t be a black chicken like her! Her father would have inherited his ancestral property and kept slaves in Jamaica, and her mother would have self-immolated and died for her husband.”

[...]

[For example], the WeChat channel “Country Road America” focuses on American politics. [...] Quite a number of these posts are about Harris as a woman. Several, posted under the name “Amber Kite” (琥珀風箏), go on and on with stories alleging Harris has used sex for career advancement:

>“When she was just in her 20s she became the mistress of a 60 year old married man (my dad isn’t even 31 years older than me, by the way) as she was looking for the first pot of money in politics from a California establishment figure who was a married man a generation older — it’s just amazing that almost half of Americans tout her as a ‘feminist icon.’” — The Democrats are about to be devoured! The leaders have hand-picked themselves. A descendants of a master poses as a member of the slave class, and a mistress represents women’s rights.

>[...]

>“Brown himself admitted that he had helped Harris get two high-paying jobs in the California state government, and that she made hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue in a few years, and that was 30 years ago. She had no background in the field, and Brown gave her a fancy car, the California version of the BMW.” — The First Bucket of Money for Harris, California’s BMW Woman. [NOTE: “BMW Woman” was a contestant on a Chinese dating show a decade ago, who famously said: “I’d rather cry in a BMW than laugh on the back of a bicycle.” She became a symbol of frivolity.]

[...]

[The article cites many similar examples.]

Archived link

[The article has been published before the U.S. election took place. For the article's content, this is not relevant.]

In the eyes of these Chinese American election volunteers, Kamala Harris is the perfect daughter of an immigrant family. “She is a successful person who has entered mainstream society, a microcosm of the American melting pot: mixed race, a former judge, an attorney general, and finally vice-president,” one volunteer said. “Her CV is what all of us Asians want to foster in our kids, and we Chinese want our next generation to be exactly like her.”

[...]

As we observed and analyzed simplified Chinese posts on X, WeChat Channels, and Douyin (TikTok), where discussions about Harris were concentrated, we found that Harris’s immigrant status and the life experiences of her parents remain important axes that “define” her on this side of the information ecosystem. Interestingly, however, we found that the very narrative that her supporters have tried to put front and center — that she is the exemplary daughter of an immigrant family — is entirely undermined in this ecosystem'

[Still, there are a significant number of Chinese Americans who do not speak English, and who might not have access to the “Harris Briefing” or to her campaign ads. For Mandarin speakers who use simplified characters in the US, if you are an X user, there is a good chance you will access election information sites in your native language].

In the vast majority of narratives we observed, the story portrayed was precisely the opposite: Harris is a disgrace to her immigrant family owing to her failure to excel, and to her alleged indiscretions in her private life. At the same time, the question of Harris’s femininity adds a further layer of complexity to these discussions. What does it mean to be the good daughter of immigrants? What makes a good politician? What makes a good woman?

[...]

**In this world [of Mandarin-speaking Chinese social media], Harris is known by another name — wu ji (烏雞), or “the black chicken” Meanwhile, her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz, is called “Bai Feng,” or “white phoenix.” **Taken together, the first characters in these nicknames, “Wu” and “Bai,” allude to the fact the candidates are darker and lighter-skinned. Together, the two names also come very close to “Wuji Baifeng Wan,” the name of a proprietary Chinese medicine that claims to be “an all-purpose gynecological treatment.” To a certain extent, this coincides with Trump and his supporters calling Walz a “tampon man,” emphasizing the femininity of the Harris-Walz duo, while at the same time drawing the reader’s imagination to the female body and sexual organs. **The word “ji” (雞), the second character in this name for Harris, is even more obscene, directly linking it to the Chinese words for “chicken” and its homophone “prostitute” (妓). **

[...]

When it comes to specifics about Harris, Chinese-language posts tend to be very sparse in terms of real information content. A portion of the posts are simply re-posts of opinion pieces, screenshots, cartoons, and other content from English-language accounts, while the Chinese comments added are at once implicit and quite explicit. They are obscure in the sense that any observer unfamiliar with labels like “the black chicken” (烏雞), “goose giblets” (鵝雜), “Harry crap” (哈里屎), “tampon man” (棉條男), “white duck” (白鴨), “yellow left” (黃左), “mackerel” (​​鮁魚), and “fox” (狐狸), will imagine these are just some form of local dialect, or a secret code.

These words are extremely derogatory to both Harris and Walz. The term “goose giblets,” for example, is a derivation of the slang term “giblets” (杂碎), which can suggest someone is trash. Its pronunciation in Chinese somewhat resembles “Walz,” and so in this case it is used to insult the Democrats’ candidate for vice president. The term “yellow left,” derived from the term “white left” (not unlike the insult “liberal snowflake”), is an insult directed online at Chinese liberals.

[...]

Get past these odd words, though, and the messages inside these posts are the most basic and direct insults, ridicule and propaganda. A few are slightly more measured, like, “to reduce taxes and raise revenues, elect Trump; to increase taxes and get poorer, elect the cockerel.” But many are unmistakable personal and racist attacks: “If Columbus hadn’t discovered the New World, then there wouldn’t be a black chicken like her! Her father would have inherited his ancestral property and kept slaves in Jamaica, and her mother would have self-immolated and died for her husband.”

[...]

[For example], the WeChat channel “Country Road America” focuses on American politics. [...] Quite a number of these posts are about Harris as a woman. Several, posted under the name “Amber Kite” (琥珀風箏), go on and on with stories alleging Harris has used sex for career advancement:

>“When she was just in her 20s she became the mistress of a 60 year old married man (my dad isn’t even 31 years older than me, by the way) as she was looking for the first pot of money in politics from a California establishment figure who was a married man a generation older — it’s just amazing that almost half of Americans tout her as a ‘feminist icon.’” — The Democrats are about to be devoured! The leaders have hand-picked themselves. A descendants of a master poses as a member of the slave class, and a mistress represents women’s rights.

>[...]

>“Brown himself admitted that he had helped Harris get two high-paying jobs in the California state government, and that she made hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue in a few years, and that was 30 years ago. She had no background in the field, and Brown gave her a fancy car, the California version of the BMW.” — The First Bucket of Money for Harris, California’s BMW Woman. [NOTE: “BMW Woman” was a contestant on a Chinese dating show a decade ago, who famously said: “I’d rather cry in a BMW than laugh on the back of a bicycle.” She became a symbol of frivolity.]

[...]

[The article cites many similar examples.]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4537047

Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office said on Thursday that it had arrested a US national, identified as Martin D., on suspicion of offering to spy for China.

"The accused is strongly suspected of having declared himself willing to conduct espionage agent activities to a foreign intelligence service," prosecutors said in a statement.

What are the allegations?

"Until recently, Martin D. worked for the US military services in Germany," prosecutors said. "In 2024, he contacted Chinese state officials and offered to them to forward sensitive information belonging to the US military to an intelligence service in China."

Prosecutors said he had acquired the data during his time working with the military. They did not say whether his offer had been accepted or whether he had delivered any information.

The investigations were conducted in close coordination with Germany's domestic intelligence agency, prosecutors said.

[...]

Several recent arrests on espionage allegations

German authorities last month arrested a Chinese woman, who had worked for a logistics services company at the Leipzig/Halle international airport.

She was accused of providing information obtained via her workplace to another Chinese national, Jian G., who is a former employee of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) European Parliament member Maximilian Krah.

Jian G. is accused of forwarding information to China from the European Parliament, with news of this development coming at the height of the European Parliament elections earlier this year, when Krah was the party's lead candidate.

Three German citizens were also arrested in Düsseldorf and Bad Homburg in April of this year, accused of forwarding on information on military technology.

Several of the other espionage-related investigations in Germany this year pertain to alleged attempts to transfer information to Russia.

Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office said on Thursday that it had arrested a US national, identified as Martin D., on suspicion of offering to spy for China.

"The accused is strongly suspected of having declared himself willing to conduct espionage agent activities to a foreign intelligence service," prosecutors said in a statement.

What are the allegations?

"Until recently, Martin D. worked for the US military services in Germany," prosecutors said. "In 2024, he contacted Chinese state officials and offered to them to forward sensitive information belonging to the US military to an intelligence service in China."

Prosecutors said he had acquired the data during his time working with the military. They did not say whether his offer had been accepted or whether he had delivered any information.

The investigations were conducted in close coordination with Germany's domestic intelligence agency, prosecutors said.

[...]

Several recent arrests on espionage allegations

German authorities last month arrested a Chinese woman, who had worked for a logistics services company at the Leipzig/Halle international airport.

She was accused of providing information obtained via her workplace to another Chinese national, Jian G., who is a former employee of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) European Parliament member Maximilian Krah.

Jian G. is accused of forwarding information to China from the European Parliament, with news of this development coming at the height of the European Parliament elections earlier this year, when Krah was the party's lead candidate.

Three German citizens were also arrested in Düsseldorf and Bad Homburg in April of this year, accused of forwarding on information on military technology.

Several of the other espionage-related investigations in Germany this year pertain to alleged attempts to transfer information to Russia.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4509062

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has congratulated his future US counterpart Donald Trump on his re-election.

[...]

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) commented on the election [in a press conference ...] "I have been saying for a long time that Europe must take a bigger role. We cannot count so much on US support. Of course, the United States has other interests," the PM said.

[...]

In Orpo’s view, peace must be achieved in Ukraine, but not under any conditions.

"Peace must be attained on Ukraine's terms," he said. "We have our own experience from history that if the big ones agree over [others'] heads, it is not in the interest of a small or independent nation, and hopefully this will be kept clearly in mind when a peace agreement is possibly made."

[...]

Former president Sauli Niinistö, who met with Trump multiple times, struck a cautious note in regard to the possible ramifications for Nato and Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Niinistö commented to Yle about Trump’s assertion that he will end the war in Ukraine quickly.

"I haven't seen a detailed plan on the matter, if there is one. Rather, that will have to be considered after we see what he is really going to do," Niinistö said.

[...]

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has congratulated his future US counterpart Donald Trump on his re-election.

[...]

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) commented on the election [in a press conference ...] "I have been saying for a long time that Europe must take a bigger role. We cannot count so much on US support. Of course, the United States has other interests," the PM said.

[...]

In Orpo’s view, peace must be achieved in Ukraine, but not under any conditions.

"Peace must be attained on Ukraine's terms," he said. "We have our own experience from history that if the big ones agree over [others'] heads, it is not in the interest of a small or independent nation, and hopefully this will be kept clearly in mind when a peace agreement is possibly made."

[...]

Former president Sauli Niinistö, who met with Trump multiple times, struck a cautious note in regard to the possible ramifications for Nato and Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Niinistö commented to Yle about Trump’s assertion that he will end the war in Ukraine quickly.

"I haven't seen a detailed plan on the matter, if there is one. Rather, that will have to be considered after we see what he is really going to do," Niinistö said.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4507826

Archived link

Several videos shared online by Foxconn workers in Zhengzhou, Henan province, depict workers fainting due to long hours of overtime work in October. Given the demanding schedules, workers asked,

On 8 October, a video on Douyin described a female worker being taken to the hospital after days of night work. Three days later, another video (which has since been removed) reported that two workers fainted in the F area of the Foxconn facility. Additionally, a video uploaded on 12 October (also removed) reported another incident of a worker fainting in a workshop. China Labour Bulletin was unable to verify whether these reported cases overlapped.

Foxconn factories in Henan have significantly extended working hours following the release of the new iPhone models, leading many workers to believe this contributed to recent fainting incidents.

[...]

Similar arrangements for longer working hours were also reported at Foxconn factories in Shenzhen, although no fainting incidents have been reported.

Archived link

Several videos shared online by Foxconn workers in Zhengzhou, Henan province, depict workers fainting due to long hours of overtime work in October. Given the demanding schedules, workers asked,

On 8 October, a video on Douyin described a female worker being taken to the hospital after days of night work. Three days later, another video (which has since been removed) reported that two workers fainted in the F area of the Foxconn facility. Additionally, a video uploaded on 12 October (also removed) reported another incident of a worker fainting in a workshop. China Labour Bulletin was unable to verify whether these reported cases overlapped.

Foxconn factories in Henan have significantly extended working hours following the release of the new iPhone models, leading many workers to believe this contributed to recent fainting incidents.

[...]

Similar arrangements for longer working hours were also reported at Foxconn factories in Shenzhen, although no fainting incidents have been reported.

Archived link

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday, the 4th of November, during a visit to the German capital where he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, that Russia is carrying out hybrid attacks against other countries as part of its all-out war against Ukraine.

“Russia is carrying out … an intensified campaign of hybrid attacks in the territories of our allies, directly interfering in our democracies, sabotaging industry and committing acts of violence,” Rutte said.

[...]

Calling the deployment of North Korean troops by Moscow a “major escalation”, Rutte said China and Iran also supported Moscow, but added that the NATO alliance was cooperating with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including South Korea and Japan.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4474456

Archived link

As China continues to grapple with a shrinking population, new data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs reveals a significant decline in marriage registrations for the first nine months of 2024. Only 4.747 million couples registered their marriages nationwide during this period, marking a year-on-year decrease of 943,000 couples. These figures, highlighted in a Reuters analysis of official data, underscore the ongoing challenge the country faces in encouraging young people to marry and start families.

This trend is a setback for Chinese lawmakers who have been working to counteract the country’s population decline through policy interventions and cultural campaigns.

[...]

The drop in marriage registrations in 2024 follows an earlier increase observed in 2023, when 5.690 million couples registered to marry during the first nine months of the year. This year’s decrease signals a return to the downward trend China has experienced over the past decade. As marriage rates decline, so too do birth rates—a significant concern for a country with a rapidly aging population. Government data showed China’s birth rate dropped for a second consecutive year in 2023, prompting officials to launch initiatives to boost marriage and birth rates in major cities.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of reversing this trend. Recently, he called on Chinese women to play a “critical role” in family building, urging them to establish a “new trend of family” that aligns with the country’s demographic goals. His remarks reflect a broader government effort to revive traditional family structures while fostering a “new-era” culture that celebrates marriage and childbearing.

China’s economic climate is a primary driver behind the decline in marriage registrations. Many young adults are struggling to secure stable employment and affordable housing, which has caused them to delay or forego marriage altogether. Urban centers, particularly megacities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, have seen a significant rise in the cost of living, further deterring young couples from committing to long-term partnerships and family planning. The price of housing, healthcare, and education has soared, forcing many young adults to prioritize financial security over starting families.

[...]