During the pandemic, Kathy Zhuo and her husband were forced to take a 50% pay cut. It was a huge blow because she also had to take care of her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer five years ago.
“We barely had money left each year. I felt insecure but didn’t know what to do,” says the 36-year-old mother of two, who lives in Fujian, a province in southern China.
The financial shock to her family prompted Ms Zhuo to join the online trend of young Chinese people looking for partners, or da zi, who share their interests. Instead of traveling or exercising together, she has formed a group of people who want to share money-saving strategies.
The hashtag “saving da zi” first appeared on Xiaohongshu, China’s Instagram, in February 2023. According to data analytics firm Newsrank, it has received 1.7 million views thus far. Topics about “saving partners” have received millions of views on Weibo.
The trend reflects “low confidence in the future economy,” according to Lu Xi, a public policy professor at the National University of Singapore. Even though the Chinese economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, it still faces a deepening property crisis, falling foreign investment and mounting local government debts.
Ms Zhuo feels lucky that she is working in the clean energy sector, an expanding industry which is estimated to have contributed around 40% of the country’s economic growth last year. However, she feels driven to “prepare for danger” as many of her friends and family are losing their jobs.
Ms. Zhuo claims that one member was tempted to buy a luxury bag for 5,000 yuan ($690; £560), but after consulting with other ladies in the club, she settled for a considerably cheaper, second-hand bag.
She is amazed that so many others are doing the same thing, and she says she feels a sense of community with her rescue partners. She claims her expenditure has decreased by 40% in just a month after partnering up. She plans to save 100,000 yuan this year.
Instead, she’s spending more time reading and weaving. She has also begun selling her homemade crafts at a local market, which provides additional income. More crucially, Ms. Wen claims that this has helped her transition to a minimalist lifestyle, which she values more.
China currently boasts one of the world’s highest savings rates. Official data suggest that by the end of 2023, the country’s households will have around 138 trillion yuan in the bank, representing nearly 14% growth from the previous year.
But Dr Lu says this high level of savings may prove to be a major problem for the Chinese government. Normally, the country’s central bank can help boost the economy by cutting interest rates, which makes saving less attractive. However, if people continue to avoid spending and save their money instead, it could blunt the bank’s ability to influence the economy.
Meanwhile, some women have opted for a more traditional saving method: keeping cash at home. It is unusual as China has gone largely cashless, with so many people using apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Ms Chen, a 32-year-old beauty salon owner in the central province of Henan who declined to give her first name, says she withdraws the majority of her monthly income from the bank and deposits it in a box. Once it reaches 50,000 yuan, she plans to return it to the bank as a fixed deposit.
“In the past, I didn’t have any saving plan but still had some money left. Now, it has become more challenging to save,” she says.
The couple has two sons, and Ms Chen is concerned about saving enough money to buy a home in the future. In China, parents typically purchase a home for their son when he marries.
According to her calculations, Ms Chen and her husband need at least five million yuan in savings. However, she believes that will not be enough because she is now pregnant again.
“Having cash in hand makes me feel less anxious,” she said. “I feel and am satisfied seeing stacks of banknotes becoming thicker and thicker.”