Part 11/12:
Ultimately, instead of fostering industry upgrades, the money lined private pockets and further enriched local elites. The result is that these lithium battery projects, once hailed as part of the new energy revolution, have been left into disarray, with high-end equipment worth millions sold off at low prices to overseas buyers.
This situation highlights a key feature of China's economic development model: rapid expansion and short-term gains followed by economic fallout and abandoned projects, company struggles, and labor issues. As Western countries reduce reliance on Chinese products and Gen Z workers resist high-stress, low-pay jobs, companies face a growing struggle to recruit and retain employees, making high-end manufacturing even harder to achieve.