I observed that among the middle class around me, over 80% have fallen back into poverty in recent years.

The reasons vary, with half of them due to property depreciation. Anyone who bought property after 2018 has basically seen their assets shrink by more than half.

Early on, when people had money, they liked to invest in commercial properties and real estate. A friend had a commercial property worth over 2 million, now it can't be sold even for 500,000. Even with price cuts, it can't be rented out. The entire commercial district has been abandoned.

Apart from real estate, there are various other reasons. I closed my studio in 2000 due to the pandemic and have been surviving on self-media content since then.

Among my relatives and friends, two are in medical device-related businesses. The recent healthcare reforms have made it impossible for them to continue. There's also one who held a minor official position in the medical department — life used to be quite comfortable, receiving commissions openly. Now everything has to be returned. He had to sell his house and borrow money everywhere just to barely escape the ordeal.

Then there's my older brother who owns several decoration companies and material factories. The family business accumulated over half a lifetime was completely lost when Evergrande collapsed, and he still owes considerable debts.

There are also those in the restaurant industry — almost none of them persevered. A relative one year older than me, a kid from the countryside who got into a Beijing university, was once a senior executive at a multinational, with properties in Beijing and Shanghai. Now his assets have shrunk, and after being laid off, he returned to his hometown with his family. There's also a couple of friends who saved money for their child's wedding, but were persuaded to invest it, lost everything, and even accumulated significant debt. They had no choice but to sell their house.

In short, almost all entrepreneurs and business owners have had a rough time these past few years — some have completely failed, others barely holding on.

Many industries that used to be profitable have suddenly stopped working these past few years.

Most of these friends are already in their fifties or sixties. They originally thought they had accumulated enough wealth over half a lifetime to enjoy their retirement, but all of it has been lost these past few years. Only those who exited early and kept cash ended up relatively better off.

However, a considerable portion of these people have also lost money in the stock market — I'm one of them. Those who were once glorious are all quite down-and-out now. Those who have had good lives recently without much impact are either civil servants or people who just held onto cash without making reckless moves.

Life really is — thirty years on the east side, thirty years on the west side.

When I was once at my peak, my studio had several hundred employees. Now I survive on only a few thousand yuan monthly from freelance writing fees.

Heaven won't always favor just one person.

Accumulating wealth takes half a lifetime, but losing it all only takes one wrong choice. Now I see it clearly — with just a few thousand yuan, a family can live well. Health and safety are worth more than anything.