How China Broke One Man’s Dreams

from The New York Times I'm Michael babo. this is the. [Music]. daily. today a crisis of confidence is brewing. inside China where the heavy hand of the. government is turning True Believers in. the Chinese dream into Skeptics willing. to flee the. country my colleague leeu on how that.

crisis is now showing up at the US. Mexico. border it's Thursday February. [Music]. 15th Lee you write about China for the. Times tell us how it is that you first. came to this story you know I watch a. lot of Chinese social media for my job. and in early 202 three I started seeing.

something quite surprising for me I saw. all these videos on social media of. Chinese people crossing the US border. with Mexico by taking the root what we. call the daring Gap and most people. taking the daring Gap are from Venezuela. Ecuador and heti but what felt so. unneutral for Chinese people taking this. journey is that unlike these other.

groups these Chinese are fleeing the. world's second largest economy right. they are not in most of the Public's. imagination in the same boat as the. migrants from any of the countries we. think of where people are fleeing. violence and poverty and taking this. very dangerous route the daring Gap yeah. and how many Chinese migrants are we. talking about here you know know last.

year in. 2023 24,000 Chinese crossed the southern. border 24,000 yeah that's more than the. previous 10 years combined wow and you. know if we step back and look at the. history China used to be a big country. for migration a lot of people were. leaving trying very hard to leave China. in 1980s when China was a very poor. country and then as the economy grew.

life became much better the. opportunities were abundant and there. were like hundreds of millions of. Chinese middle class and by. 2012 very few Chinese were leaving and. about 80% of Chinese who studied abroad. people like me went back to China. because why leave China right you could. have Chinese dream as a play on The. American Dream right yeah the American. dream you know we grew up watching in.

Hollywood movies you know we all know. the term and then the Communist Party. kind. of coopted the term and became the. Chinese dream and many Chinese bought. into that but in recent years the. numbers of people living China have. again started to go up and actually. hundreds of thousands of Chinese. citizens left the country last year and. the Chinese migrants who cross the.

daring Gap represent those who are going. to the most extreme lands to leave the. country mhm and so I've been really. interested in finding out why are they. doing this and what do you come to. understand about why thousands of. Chinese migrants are making this journey. what what explains it it might be better. if I can give you an example a man I.

met his name. is he 39 years old and he s he realized. the Chinese dream and ended up on the. Darren. Gap he was born in China's Eastern. Province Shandon in a poor. Village he said he grew up like only two.

meals with meat a year and he didn't. finish middle school. [Music]. and he worked hard labor making very. little money but he dreamed about the. world outside his. village so he went to work at an. Electronics Factory in Beijing making. about $300 dollar a month which was a.

fortune for. him and he has a lot of street smart you. can sense it when you're talking to him. so after a few years he started working. for kind of like a Human Resources. company recruiting Factory workers just. like him and then by 2007 he made some. money and he leased a plot of land on.

the upskirts of Beijing and build an. apartment building and the rent it out. to migrant workers huh so he basically. becomes a small scale almost developer. yeah a very small skill developer and uh. he did pretty well you know he was. making about. $30,000 a year which was pretty good. money for anybody in China at the. time and he got married and he had a.

daughter and a few years later he had a. son he moved his parents from their. Village to Beijing which was a big. success in Chinese culture and he really. believed he kind of made. it and his life was only going to become. better and. better and what you're describing feels. like a middle class existence in China's.

capital a success story not exactly the. kind of person you would expect to leave. China yeah you know the Chinese. government likes talking about hundreds. of millions of Chinese lifted out of. poverty you know he was one of them but. then in 2018 everything changed for. G he got a notice from the local.

government that they wanted to take back. the land he leased and tear down the. apartment building he had built the. building he had built and subdivided. yeah the government wanted to use the. land to sell it for big bucks to bigger. developers essentially the government. just wants to override the lease that he. has for this land they just don't seem. to respect it and they're putting up the. sign and saying to him it's over.

yeah and the government ordered everyone. in G building to. leave go is like no way and he refused. to. leave but the government cut off the. water the power and they throw away the. tenants belongings on the. street and they dumped toilet sewage in. the yard because they wanted to make it.

unable for the people and then on that. day when the government came with police. and bulldozers to tear the building down. he said he stood on the roof of the. building he said he was so angry his. eyes just blacked. out he had a break in his hand he want.

Breck in his hand yes he wanted to throw. it and fight the police the government. officials and his mom knelt down in. front of him backed him not to fight you. can't fight the government just get over. with it carry on with your. life. I and he told me he just has.

[Music]. [Music]. cried so what does GA end up doing after. the government takes away his land and. this building well God didn't want to. give up he decided to go to the higher. authority the central government to. petition his case he thought at least he.

could demand some compensation for what. he had lost but during that process he. said he and his family started getting. harassed by local authorities they even. went to his Children's School to ask the. students with the same last name gal to. stand up to stand up in the classroom. yeah to intimidate basically it got so. bad that he legally divorced his wife to.

try to trick the authorities to stop. harassing her and her parents wow and. meanwhile he had lost income from the. apartment building he was trying to make. a living doing odd jobs and this went. down for several years and at the end of. it g got absolutely nothing in return. for the loss of his. property.

and at that time he started to think. about his. [Music]. world he said I felt like I suddenly. woke. up he said you know he just found out. there's no way to pursue Justice in his.

[Music]. country he told me I felt like I finally. saw through this country's reality saw. right through. it his outlook for the country and for. his own future just became very dark. that was what he. said.

so at this point it seems safe to say. that his version of the Chinese dream. has collaps and I wonder as he's telling. you this story Lee what you make of. it to be honest if you a China. correspondent you cover China this is. the type of story you hear again and. again the space for the society just. shrank so much in the past decade or so.

under the government of. shining it has become really hard for. people from all kinds of social economic. backgrounds you can get into trouble for. anything for being a wiger Christian. Muslim well you're just um ordinary. online user just making a comment on. social media well you're just a. Communist Party C who has a copy of a. ban book and you can be in trouble the.

police can show up at your door in the. middle of the night the knock on the. door and everything goes away yeah you. just live in constant fear H and all of. this are happening at the same time when. the unemployment rate is rising right. and the Chinese economy is falling. apart people just can't see where their. future is going to be the loss of.

confidence is you can feel it in the air. that's what people told. me so this is the moment that the idea. of the Chinese dream you work very hard. and the life will become better kind of. is clashing with the reality of the. Chinese. government. and it's this moment that go saw the.

videos I saw on social media of people. crossing the daring. [Music]. Gap and he thought to himself that I can. do this. too.

we'll be right. [Music]. back once Scout decides to leave China. why does he decide to leave this way why. not go to a nearby neighboring country. in Asia why not go to Europe why travel. across the ocean to the us through such.

a particularly terrifyingly dangerous. route as the daring capap yeah for many. Chinese people you know it's pretty. obvious that the US is the country they. should move to because it is the. wealthiest country in the world and the. wages are much higher here than in most. countries and also the US still looms. large in the imagination of Chinese. people you know from many people the. American dream never died mhm the.

problem is it's not easy for ordinary. Chinese people like G to get any kinds. of visa to go directly to the US H but. Chinese passport holders can fly. directly to Ecuador without a Visa and. from there there's a well traveled pass. to the daring Gap so many Chinese people. just think that going from Ecuador to.

the daring Gap is actually one of the. best options for them to get to the. United States but how aware is G of what. is entailed in walking from Ecuador to. the US border through that landscape he. was aware of the. danger he told me he knew that people. died on the root but.

he told me his life was so risky so. dangerous so uncertain in China he. decided he might just as well leave to. start a new. life G had never been out of China and. he didn't even have a passport he. applied for a passport after he decided. to. leave and he also convinced his family. to let him bring his eldest child his.

13-year-old daughter to come with. him and they left Beijing late February. last. year they flew to Turkey and then to. Ecuador and got connected with. Smugglers who took them to the daring. Gap it was such a brutal Journey God.

told. me on the first day he had s. stroke on the second day he could barely. walk and his daughter vomited and. fainted on the. ground I asked him what was going. through his mind during the journey he. said it was this.

there but he just told his daughter we. have to keep going we can't get left. behind the journey took 35 days they. reached the Border in late March and. crossed from Mexico into. Texas they were taken by border control. agents go told his story about what he's.

experienced in China and he was let. go this is where it feels like gal's. story seems to intersect with a very. long running story in the United States. which is what's going on at the border. thousands tens of thousands a week. migrants showing up at that southern. border seeking Asylum and because. there's such a backlog to process the. applications folks are LED into the US. and here that seems to be what happened. to G and his daughter yeah g and his.

daughter they were lucky they were let. go within 48 hours and immigration agent. sent them to San Francisco and that's. where he and his daughter have been ever. since and what does his life look like. in San. Francisco so go and his daughter are. living in a studio apartment at a. Housing Shelter. there. he got a work permit and has been.

working delivering packages for $2 per. package he gets up at 6:00 a.m. every. morning and his daughter has to get up. around the same time because she cannot. be at the family shelter. alone so she would stay at the KFC until. his school.

time he works really really long. hours and he told me he cries when he. thinks about leaving her alone this. sounds like a very difficult existence I. mean the kind of difficult existence. that might make somebody wonder if they. had made the right decision you know. life isn't easy for him and his daughter. but go is focusing on what the US is.

giving. him he said the Chinese government took. away his building and he can't believe. the US government gave him a apartment. to leave for. free and one thing he emphasized is the. freedom he has here he doesn't need to. fear for the knock on the door. anymore. I asked him are you idolizing the us too.

much. so and he kept telling me no no no I. never regreted my decision of coming. here and he told me a story of one. afternoon in November when was in San. Francisco to meet with President. Biden. and G saw on social media that there.

would be a protest in San Francisco so. he actually took the day off and went. downtown he said he joined a group of. protesters and started. chanting stepped. down and he was actually interviewed by. a Chinese media Outlet at the scene.

he sent me the clip And the reporter. asked him why are you here he said. freedom is. great then he shouted lonely. Freedom step. down he told me he felt. amazing he said in China I wouldn't dare.

say. that but this were heartfelt words and I. could finally shout them. out he said he felt like a completely. different person after that. H so what's the most likely outcome of. this story for gal what do you think is. going to happen to him so G applied for. political Asylum in May and he's waiting.

to say if it will be. granted in the meantime he dreams of one. day settling down again in his own house. not in a shelter. mhm and he also wants to be reunited. with his family right which of course. the majority of which is still back in. China. yeah. for now he tells his wife that he will.

be able to get a green card. soon which he says is a. lie in reality he's not certain what. will happen to. him and you know a lot of people like. him who made a similar Journey he ended. up going back to China when I talk to. them they said things are just too. [Music].

but go said even if he can make it. here he will never go back to China as. long as the Communist party is in. [Music]. power age bye-bye. byebye. [Music].

gal would seem Le to be exactly the kind. of person on paper that China wouldn't. want to lose somebody who made the. journey that as you said China is so. proud of from rural China to Urban China. who tried to create a business a. development did so brought his family to. the big city and yet he'd rather risk. his life and flee to the United States.

Through the Jungle than endure this. version of China's government and based. on your. reporting hundreds of thousands of. others are doing the same thing and yet. the reality is that China is a country. of huge numbers I mean 1.4 billion. people right so even if hundreds of. thousands of Chinese people are leaving. that's still a pretty small proportion. of the population so is what we're.

experiencing here what you're. documenting a threat to China's future. and something that it's going to be. taking seriously or is this just the. cost of the authoritarian political. model that China now has under shei and. can it therefore tolerate this. outflow I don't think any country should. take this lightly it is a serious.

problem for any government you know in. the past year I wrote about Chinese. entrepreneurs young professionals. intellectuals artists filmmakers all. kinds of people living because they. couldn't suffer it anymore there's even. a term for that called R running away. from China is among the most popular. busws in China last year everybody talks.

about where they should move to what. their options are my friends told me. that it's also one of the hottest topics. on dinner tables in China when people. sit around and really get to talking and. they get into their cups you're saying. they talk about fleeing yeah people are. obsessed with this I think what G and. many people are doing is starting to. look like a beginning of a great Exodus.

of China when the government became so. harsh on its people when the economy is. not doing well and people can't vote for. their leaders some people decided. there's only one way to vote that's with. their. [Music]. feet that was what G and many people did.

and I believe many more people are going. to do. [Music]. that o thank you very much we appreciate. it thank. [Music]. you.

we'll be right. back here's what else you need to. another. day on Wednesday a rocket fired from. Lebanon struck a base in Israel killing. an Israeli soldier and wounding eight. others and prompting a massive response.

from the Israeli government ours later. Israel carried out extensive air strikes. on Southern Lebanon that killed at least. four people the exchanges represent the. kind of deadly Tit for Tat that could. quickly spiral into a direct conflict. between Israel and Lebanon which Israel. has twice invaded in the past and a. celebration of the Kansas City Chief's.

Super Bowl victory has turned into. America's latest mass shooting one. person was killed and at least 21 others. were injured nine of them children. Kansas City Police said they had. detained three people in connection with. the shooting but offered few details and. no. motive. today's episode was produced by Stella.

tan Shannon ly and Jessica Chon it was. edited by MJ Davis Lynn with help from. Michael benois and Paige cowt contains. original music by Marian Lozano Rowan. yist and Dan Powell and was engineered. by Chris. Wood that's it for the Daily. I'm Michael babo see you.

[Music]. tomorrow.