There is a 'temporal inequality' in China—a sense that there were specific windows when entering the property market or job market at the right time created opportunities for upward mobility, but those ladders are disappearing, and this absence of social mobility ('fewer trains to catch') is a major source of male discontent in the population.

factualpending

Speaker

David Rennie

Evidence Quote

it's not just inequality of classes and income. It's also a sense of temporal inequality...if you got on the property ladder 15 years ago or you entered the job market at the right time that there are opportunities the ladders are just disappearing...there are just Chinese use this phrase about shang catch the train change your life there just fewer trains to catch

Source

The Challenge of ChinaThe Aspen Institute
Created: 8/11/2026, 6:35:07 AM

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