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Economic Perspectives on Contemporary Issues

Posted at 2024-01-09

“Last year, Temu and Shein ranked as the 10th and 11th largest digital advertisers in the United States—now they have fallen out of the top 60. According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Temu’s monthly active users, a metric measuring app engagement, declined by 51% in the U.S. between March and June to 40.2 million. Fast-fashion retailer Shein’s monthly active users decreased by 12% to 41.4 million.”

The intense gender antagonism in China, Japan, and South Korea represents a zero-sum game in resource competition amid economic slowdown. With social mobility stagnating, discourse focuses on the uneven distribution of scarce resources between genders.

Learning about the term “Southern Mongolia,” I found a Reddit response noting that “Inner Mongolia” exists more in textbooks. I used Gemini to understand different narratives. Historical cognition shapes identity. From a world history perspective, free from political nationalism, the past becomes just history—different stories told by different people. Regions have their histories, but when narrating ethnic histories, one must first define ethnicity.

I’m not skilled at thinking. Without frameworks or models, I lack focused objectives; I remain superficial, rarely delving into essence; I’m not accustomed to summarizing and generalizing, lacking logical construction; I’m shy about expression and sharing, disregarding teaching and creation as learning methods.

Tan Qian, a late Ming Dynasty historian who advocated “Better be a capable minister than a loyal one,” once asked in anguish: “Keeping silent brings wealth; speaking dangerous words invites disaster; dying with the world mourning one’s loyalty is but an empty reputation… What use is such empty fame?” The answer: It’s for the stage.

(Note: This article was originally written in Chinese and translated to English by AI. Please excuse any imperfections in expression.)

Last modified at 2025-07-02