The anxiety rattling China’s youth
The Indicator from Planet Money
NPR
4.7 • 9.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
China will soon unveil its economic blueprint for the next five years, including a target for economic growth. This comes as consumption is down, wages aren’t rising, and property prices continue to drop. So what’s the plan? Today, we hear from NPR’s China correspondent Jennifer Pak about the challenges facing China’s economic policymakers.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | NPR. |
| 0:11.6 | This is The Indicator from Planet Money. |
| 0:13.8 | I'm Waylon Wong. |
| 0:15.2 | So my teenage daughter and her friends are really into blind boxes these days. |
| 0:20.1 | They're small collectibles, often vinyl figurines, |
| 0:22.8 | and they come packaged so that you don't know exactly which one you'll get. The fun is in the |
| 0:28.3 | unboxing. And these blind boxes are also really popular in China. That's what MPR correspondent, |
| 0:34.5 | Jennifer Pack tells us. So those are really kind of quick things that you can buy that doesn't cost a lot, |
| 0:39.4 | but makes you feel really satisfied for a bit until, you know, the next fixing is needed. |
| 0:44.4 | Jennifer says one reason that blind boxes are hot in China is that people, especially young people, |
| 0:50.6 | don't have a lot of money to spend. |
| 0:52.7 | Consumption's been sluggish. This is the backdrop this |
| 0:56.0 | week as the Chinese government unveils its 2026 target for economic growth. Thousands of |
| 1:02.3 | representatives are gathering for the National People's Congress. The government will announce |
| 1:06.9 | its gross domestic product target for the year and outline a plan for how to get there. |
| 1:12.0 | It's like its own kind of blind box reveal, but with much higher stakes from both China and |
| 1:17.7 | the U.S. given the ongoing trade war and race for technological dominance. Today on the show, |
| 1:23.3 | Jennifer Pack tells us about the challenges facing China's economic policymakers. |
| 1:29.4 | Jennifer Pack and PR's China correspondent, you have been roaming the streets of Beijing recently. |
| 1:35.3 | What's the economic mood like? |
| 1:37.1 | I would say it's very different from 20 years ago when I first came to Beijing to work. |
| 1:41.7 | You know, back then we were talking about what are Chinese |
... |
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