On “Xiaohongshu Balance-Sheet Comparisons”: “Can You Still Ignore the Fact That You Live on the Wrong Side of a One-Way Mirror?”

The mingling of so-called "TikTok refugees" with Chinese users on the PRC-based social network Xiaohongshu spawned a range of reactions, from some Chinese users’ excitement at the unexpected opening of a window in the Great Firewall, to shock among some Americans at the fact that some in China lead comfortable, modern, urban lifestyles. This fueled a trend of "balance-sheet comparisons," in which the incomes and expenses of people in each country are compared in minute detail. As CDT’s Cindy Carter wrote last week, "For many, it is an affirmation that economic struggles are universal, despite the variance in baseline salaries and living expenses. Others approach it as a competition, an affirmation, or a way of gauging China’s relative standing in the world.

In the WeChat post translated below, blogger 西北再望 (Xīběi zài wàng, "Another look at the Northwest") critiqued the pandering of some American visitors and the triumphalism of some of the author’s own compatriots. The essay points out complicating factors in some of the comparisons, noting that circumstances in the United States are not always as bleak or as rosy as the visitors’ posts may suggest. The essay—which remains online—ends with "the bit that should make you weep," pointing out that the foreign visitors have been free to come and go all along. The only things stopping these encounters from happening long before were the Chinese users’ online confinement, and the foreign visitors’ lack of interest. So, the author asks: "Can you still ignore the fact that you live on the wrong side of a one-way mirror?"

I didn’t intend to wade into this topic at first, but after unexpectedly seeing some smug posts from a couple of people in my WeChat circles, I decided to say a few words.

For example, I saw one compilation video of a bunch of foreign friends singing some of our [Chinese] songs. When I reposted it, I added the short comment, "They sure know how to drum up traffic."

All I want is to ask them to do it for real, and actually immigrate to China. (Fun fact: China doesn’t recognize dual citizenship, so they’d have to give up their original nationality.)

Pros:

  1. Prove it’s true love, not just a desire for traffic.
  2. Boost our currently dwindling population.
  3. Reverse this strange phenomenon: "Over the past ten years, fewer than 300 foreigners have become naturalized citizens of the world’s second largest economy." (Fun fact: population movement tends to flow in the direction of freedom: for example, this incoming wave of so-called "TikTok refugees" was a direct result of the [U.S.] Tiktok ban.)
  4. It’ll stop me mocking them.

(Surprisingly, in the "TikTok refugees" thread, a couple of Chinese readers told me things like, "This ‘balance-sheet comparison’ proves that Chinese people are very happy," which just goes to show that they lack even the most basic judgment capabilities.)

I don’t have any more inside dirt, but here are a few thoughts based on the information currently available:

  1. It only takes a little thought to realise that the core of our foreign friends’ tearful complaints about the high cost of living is all about the labor force. In other words, the key is that wages are higher there. Where you see their heavy [financial] burdens, I see that as long as they’re willing to work, their incomes will be correspondingly high—because they make up the labor force. So what’s there for us to feel so smug about?

Haven’t you suffered enough from low-paid labor? How do you think our 996 schedules came about? Don’t you know our students are being packed off to work in factories for eight or nine yuan an hour, and won’t get diplomas if they refuse?

If you think these are exploitative outliers, let’s look at normal work: do you know what your hourly wage would be if you were a teacher making 5,000 yuan a month? Let me do the math for you: if you work eight hours a day, six days a week, four weeks a month, your hourly wage would be 26 yuan, or US$3.50. That’s not taking into account independent study in the mornings and evenings, or the frequent overtime. The average hourly wage for an American teacher, on the other hand, is $24.60, or 180 yuan; the minimum for a teacher in Australia is AU$24.1, or 110 yuan, but the average is between AU$30-40, or 126-182 yuan.

Please take that into account.

  1. Unless you’re blind, you might also spot elementary, junior-high, and high-school hours on the balance sheet. Someone asked, "What time do you finish school over there?" The answer: "3:30 p.m." "My God, even our kindergartners haven’t been let out by then. What do you do with all the after-school time?" Answer: "Have fun. Maybe play with friends, or spend time on our own hobbies." Someone said, "I’ve taken three of the farm chickens under my wing, so I have to look after them."

  2. Then there’s education. People seem to have suddenly forgotten what used to be obvious: a large share of Chinese family income goes toward children’s education. It’s hard to raise even an only child, and it’s extremely challenging for an ordinary family to raise two while providing for their normal educational needs. In many families, the children are basically just surviving. Then we turn around and laugh at the exorbitant fees at American private schools. Look again, and you’ll find that elementary, junior high, and high school is free in American public schools, but expensive at private ones. But the real comparison is the average proportion of family income spent on children’s education: 17-30% in China, and only 2.5-10% in America.

  3. Housing. The average American family’s housing costs are 33% of their income; you can work out for yourself how much your home costs, and how big a hole that leaves in your wallet. Now, don’t forget how you usually moan about house prices. As for the idea that the average American lives in a big mansion … you’re not a fool, do you really believe that? The American Empire has poor folks, too.

  4. Healthcare might be the most confusing topic. It seems as though you’ll go bankrupt in the U.S. the moment you fall ill, but don’t forget that the American Empire is an insurance superpower. You can insure anything! Their health insurance takes up 8.2% of family income. Think about the labor, training, and R&D cost of ambulances, doctors, and medications without insurance; that’s definitely hard to bear, and they don’t have universal health insurance. For many people, just falling ill is certainly an enormous financial burden.

On the other hand, think about how many Chinese families have been financially ruined because one member fell seriously ill. They have their problems, sure, but are all of us happy? Maybe, if no one in your family’s fallen seriously ill yet, and you ignore all the countless families who’ve lost everything as a result, or your family never tried to get by without any medical insurance. Otherwise, who are you kidding? Think about it in terms of auto insurance: would you dare to drive around uninsured?

But then again, we often hear about how inconvenient it is for them to see a doctor, and about how long they have to wait to get a doctor’s appointment. If they catch a cold, they’ll probably already be recovered by the time their appointment rolls around. And besides, we get to go out and eat barbecue or spicy hot-pot any time we want. I guess life here in the motherland really is convenient. Yay for us.

  1. Various other things. I’ll add more if necessary.

  2. And last, we come to the bit that should make you weep. A few years back, a minor celebrity from some small country insulted China somehow or other. Netizens climbed the wall to yell at him, but unexpectedly they were cut down with a single sentence. They’d used the same homophones and “Martian script” they’re used to at home, and the other side reminded them in Chinese: "You’re outside [the Great Firewall] now, you don’t need to use those tricks." I don’t know if this got through to the invaders, but when I saw it, I was overwhelmed by an unshakable grief. Even if we can go where we please, we are weighed down by our habitual limitations, and do not think to rid ourselves of them.

Let me describe the scene: a crowd of people, laboriously clambering over the Great Firewall, then laboriously climbing back in again, brushing away the dust and cobwebs as they scramble over, proudly saying: "We won a great victory, and successfully defended everything within this wall! You’re welcome!"

See any similarities with the current TikTok refugees?

In 1987, China’s internet was born.

In 2000, Chinese cities got dial-up internet.

In 2003, broadband started to take off.

In 2007, fiber optic internet started to take off.

In 2009, mobile internet started to take off.

What internet have we been accessing all this time? Do you know where the limits of your internet are, unless you use unconventional methods—that is, forbidden methods? Cast your eyes on a globe: how large a part of it does your internet cover? The world is so big … don’t you want to explore it freely?

The facts I’ve laid out for you should have sparked a clear realization: "Hey, how come they can come in whenever they feel like it?" Can’t you see that there’s a one-way mirror in front of you? Can you still ignore the fact that you live on the wrong side of a one-way mirror?

And have you not thought about why, in all these years, they didn’t come in before? Why, why, why?

Maybe they just weren’t interested in you?

Why are they only coming in now?

You live in a mountain valley, and someone’s told you not to step outside. Then one day, unexpectedly, a crowd of people drop in, full of enthusiasm. Why did they come, you wonder? Isn’t it just because their own homes were flooded and they had nowhere to stay, so they came to your place to let loose and have some fun?

And they can come and go as they wish, while you still can’t take a step over the border, because that one-way mirror was made just for you.

Would you really be full of pride and happiness in this situation? Really, in spite of everything? Nothing about this strikes you as particularly strange or abnormal?

Have you ever pondered this kind of scenario? A litter of puppies are locked in a big cage and enjoying themselves, when suddenly, one day, some wild puppies scamper in and tell you that there’s rain and snow and cold outside, you have to laboriously hunt your own food, and if you get sick there’s no decent hospital so you just have to pray—not at all like you in here, with a roof to keep the rain off, regular mealtimes, a pet clinic when you’re sick, and even a cage which, miraculously, only keeps you in, without keeping other dogs out.

So tell me, what are you so cheerful about?

What exactly are you so proud of? [Chinese]

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