China, you’ve been told, is a rising power. Soon, you’ve been told, they’ll surpass the United States as the center of a new world order. Their annual gross domestic product averaged 9% growth from 1989 to 2022; their standing military has 2 million active personnel; their tentacles reach into Africa, the Middle East, and South America. The real story of China is far, far scarier, because China is a power in a state of inevitable collapse. The only question is when, and how much damage they’ll do before the Chinese regime implodes. That’s because China has at least five serious problems.
Problem #1 | Demographics
China is currently, according to geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan, the fastest-aging society in all of human history. A healthy demographic chart, in terms of age, looks something like a pyramid: most of the citizens will be young, a solid number will be middle-aged, and at the very top, the fewest will be elderly.
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