Student Question: I’m based in Chengdu. Are apartment units in the southern part of the city worth investing in? Currently, apartment prices are fairly affordable — a unit with renovation comes to around 450,000 yuan total, with rental income of 2,000–2,400 yuan per month. To achieve the same rental return from a residential property, the total cost including renovation and various fees would be roughly three times that of an apartment. The money I have on hand is only enough for a down payment on residential housing. I also have concerns about residential properties being difficult to sell in the future. Apartment prices have dropped quite a bit compared to before, yet rents for well-located apartments have been rising year over year. I’d like to hear your thoughts, Master.
Live-streaming commerce hosts appear to be driving consumption — but in reality, they haven’t created any new market. They’ve simply seized existing market share.
That same market share used to sustain countless brick-and-mortar shops and their employees, supporting stable livelihoods for many people. The winner-takes-all Matthew Effect of top-tier streaming hosts has instead triggered mass unemployment.
Merchants find themselves losing money just to stay in the game — but they have no choice but to play along. Consumers find shopping more cumbersome than ever, forced to sit through livestreams or pay more elsewhere. Workers find fewer local jobs available — positions that could have offered stability in a smaller hometown city have evaporated, leaving people no option but to uproot their lives and migrate for work.
Student Question: Hello Master, what are the things that truly broaden one’s horizons? Work, travel, reading — or stepping outside the circle you’re comfortable in?
Master Chi’s Response: My answer is this: learn to become a producer.
Most people in this world are timid as producers, but relentless as consumers.
Reading fifty thousand words a day — effortless, pure pleasure. Writing two thousand words a day — stumbling at every step. Spending a hundred thousand a month — light as breathing. Earning a hundred thousand a month — nearly impossible.
Here’s a message that runs counter to what most people believe: asking a good question is a remarkably high bar to clear.
We always assume that because we don’t understand something, we simply need to voice our confusion — and that constitutes a question. It doesn’t.
Consider this example: How does a person become excellent? That’s a poor question.
How do you define excellence? How do you measure its degree? Suppose we agree that getting into a prestigious university counts as excellence — wouldn’t that mean every textbook that student has read from childhood onward is part of the answer?
I believe every one of us needs to come to terms with a very important reality: we are currently in a critical climbing phase.
By “climbing phase,” I mean that after more than forty years of economic development, we are gradually growing toward becoming a genuine top-tier world power.
This creates an awkward situation, because both the number-one power we’re aiming to surpass and its constellation of allies will do everything in their power to trip us up and lay traps for us.
Student Question
Reaching out to you as a long-time follower, hoping to consult Master privately on a real estate question here in Shanghai.
I’m a newcomer to Shanghai. My husband and I run a small foreign trade business together — about ten employees, focused on a niche product category for over a decade. The early years were tough, but in the last five years we’ve developed some major clients and things have steadily found their footing. Annual revenue is roughly 1 to 2 million RMB. Our child currently attends a well-known private primary school.
These past few years have been genuinely profound.
They’ve taught us that the most important thing in this world isn’t creating wealth — and certainly not achieving fame and success.
As ordinary people, chasing opportunities and catching a lucky wave to earn a little money is, of course, wonderful.
But a happy, peaceful, warm, and harmonious life — that is the true happiness that transcends everything else.
In previous years, I would use this time to reflect on the year’s highlights and share plans for the year ahead.
Honestly, I’m not one for Western holidays — but among all of them, Christmas Eve is the one exception I hold dear.
Simply because the name in Chinese carries such a beautiful weight: 平安夜 — the Night of Peace and Safety. Ping ping an an.
Just hearing it warms the heart.
And warmth is something we’ve all been craving lately.
Let’s be honest — these past two years have been delicate for most of us. You know it, I know it.
The Great Battle trilogy is still unfinished. With internal and external forces converging, the risks accumulated over these years will begin releasing one by one. Starting in the second half of the year, high-ranking figures in the financial sector will fall from power in succession. Behind each one lies a cluster of hidden landmines… This is not merely a debt problem, nor simply a corruption problem — it is the grave question of who ultimately holds dominion over this land. Once a priestly class seizes its territory, it will never pledge loyalty to the king; it will become an agent of the Pope.
After years of reading destiny charts, I won’t claim to have any cosmic gift.
But after a few minutes of observing you, I can tell with complete certainty whether you have real wealth fortune — and I won’t be wrong.
Why?
Because years of moving through every social tier and circle have made it crystal clear to me what it actually takes for an ordinary person to make serious money.