Anonymous User: Commander, Commander — if war breaks out, how should ordinary people like us protect our assets? How should we allocate them?
Personal situation: I work in a management role at a private company. Honestly, I have no truly practical survival skills. Through luck, I’ve managed to fully pay off 2 properties in a second-tier city, currently worth around 6 million RMB, along with 300k in savings and 100k in a pension annuity. I’m a woman in my late thirties, currently single — relaxed about marriage and having children. I just want to live out my later years in comfort, not end up destitute in old age. How should I allocate what I have?
Commander: Once war breaks out, protecting assets becomes impossible. First, assets will massively devalue. When fighting begins, that kind of thinking will actually get in the way of survival. In those circumstances, every resource in society — including people themselves — is conscripted to serve the war effort.
Look at what’s happening to ordinary people in Ukraine: civilians have been mobilized over a dozen times. With men largely depleted, women are being sent to the front — female soldiers on the front lines have increased by 30%. As long as the fighting drags on, this becomes inevitable.
This falls into the category of uncontrollable, unexpected circumstances. You either get away from the fighting or get caught up in it. Even fleeing abroad is extremely difficult. Have you seen the film 1942? Setting aside the people at your destination — even the people fleeing alongside you will have bad intentions the moment they see you carrying valuables. In short, in those conditions there is no security and no order. Survival comes down entirely to your own life force and your ability to adapt on the fly.
This is why our ancestors gave us this saying: Better to be a dog in peaceful times than a human in times of chaos.
Here’s how to think about it: if everyone faces the same predicament, others will find a way through, and so will you. All preparation — all planning ahead — is really about training yourself to endure hardship. Whatever happens, individual fate is always carried along on the currents of the age. People don’t have many choices.
When full-scale conflict actually arrives, all you can do is bet on your country winning. If it wins, you might still be able to hold onto something. If it loses — there’s nothing left. Including your life.