2023-09-17 10:30:26
September 17, 2023 10:26 am
Last updated: September 17, 2023 at 10:30 am
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Live streaming internet celebrity Li Jiaqi is known as the “big brother who brings goods”.
“Sometimes you have to look for your own reasons. Has your salary increased over the years? Have you worked hard?”
Last weekend, Li Jiaqi, known as China’s “big brother” in live broadcasting, said this. At that time, he was promoting a domestic brand Huaxizi eyebrow pencil priced at 79 yuan. Some viewers left comments saying that the brand was getting more and more expensive, and Li Jiaqi immediately refuted it.
His remarks were trending on Weibo and angered netizens. Someone left a message saying, “You earn ordinary people’s money, but in the end you laugh at ordinary people’s poverty.” “Young people lying around are not because they don’t want to work hard and make money, but There is no chance.” “Everything is going up, but wages have not increased in three years but have fallen. Is it because we don’t work hard?”
Li Jiaqi lost millions of followers overnight. This Internet turmoil unexpectedly reflected the plight of China’s economic downturn and youth unemployment.
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More than one-fifth of Chinese young people aged 16 to 24 are unemployed.
In the past six months, the youth unemployment rate has reached a record high, ranging from 17.3%, 18.1%, 19.6%, 20.4%, 20.8% and 21.3% respectively in the months from January to June, which means that more than one out of every five young people aged 16 to 24 is unemployed. , China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced that it would no longer publish relevant data from August.
On the other hand, the real estate industry, which accounts for one-third of all wealth in China, has been teetering on the edge of a full-blown crisis. Economists have cut their forecasts for China’s economic growth, with many forecasting below the government’s target of around 5%.
Liu Qiao, dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, pointed out a few months ago that China will not enter a “low desire society” because the current income level of the people is still too low.
Li Jiaqi is one of the most successful online anchors in China. Some Chinese media quoted the “Top 100 Annual Net Income List of China (Mainland Region) Internet Anchors in 2021” as saying that Li Jiaqi’s annual income is as high as RMB 1.8 billion.
He officially joined Taobao Live in 2017 and became the anchor. In 2018, Tmall’s “Double Eleven” set a record of selling 15,000 lipsticks in 5 minutes, earning him the title of “Lipstick King”. His livestreams promote products ranging from food and cosmetics to home furnishings, and are said to sell millions of dollars worth of merchandise every night.
Critics said Li Jiaqi’s comments were insensitive at a time when millions of young Chinese face bleak economic prospects.
But the anger also provides a window into widespread disillusionment among China’s young people. “In the comments on social media in response to the Li Jiaqi incident, I see a China that is collapsing,” one tweet read.
Li Jiaqi’s fans, mostly young women in China, have been hit hard by the economic slowdown, with many posting regarding how they are struggling to make ends meet and how much they pay is out of proportion to their wages.
Some female netizens said that during the three years of the epidemic, wages have not increased even a cent, and consumption is now limited to daily necessities. Others said that they just graduated with a monthly salary of 6,000 11 years ago. Today, 11 years later, they are married and have children, but their monthly salary is 5,000. Some people also reported that wages within the system have been reduced by 22%. “Now I am paid more than 2,000 yuan, and the work is many times as much as before. Do you think it is justified?”
Another person wrote: “I did not do less work when I had to do it, and I did not do less overtime when I needed to work, but the company said that there was no money, no projects, no payment received, and the holiday benefits were not cut off at all, but more than ten were paid. The birthday gift of RMB 100 is still tax-deducted from the salary. Do you think it’s because we don’t work hard enough?”
“Ruimu Video” launched a Weibo poll, asking netizens if their wages had been increased in the past three years. More than 60% of the 17,000 netizens who participated in the vote said there had been no salary increase, nearly 30% said their wages had dropped, and only 10% said their wages had been reduced in the past three years. Up.
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Li Jiaqi’s fans are mainly young women.
China’s state-run media CCTV also issued an article criticizing Li Jiaqi, saying, “Many Internet celebrities and anchors are humble before making money, but become very arrogant following making money. But no industry can do without ordinary people who are careful regarding their daily necessities. Once they are ‘floating’, Those who forget the original intention of providing good service are destined to be rejected and eliminated.”
This is not the first time Li Jiaqi has been involved in controversy. On June 3, 2022, he brought out a tank-shaped ice cream cake during a live broadcast event to introduce it. The live broadcast was then interrupted, and the outside world speculated that he had violated the “June 4th” incident. Banned due to political taboos. After disappearing for 109 days, he returned in September of the same year in the Taobao live broadcast room.
After this gaffe, Li Jiaqi quickly issued a statement apologizing and admitting that his words were inappropriate, “I am a cosmetics counter salesperson, and I know that everyone’s work is hard and not easy. What I said did not live up to your expectations.” This statement might not quell the anger of fans, and he apologized tearfully in the live broadcast room once more the next day.
In this regard, many netizens still don’t buy it. Some people point out that Li Jiaqi’s sins are getting bigger and bigger because he unexpectedly became an ideological enlightenment. “He made everyone start thinking regarding working hard but having less and less money. All the money in society is gone.” Where is it?”, “Actually, Li Jiaqi and the official statement have the same meaning, but they are expressed in different ways. They both let the common people reflect, and never let the bosses reflect.”
Some netizens also asked: “Didn’t the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say that China’s economy is stable and improving?”
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