Key Points:
- Fear of the “curse of 35” pushes young Chinese workers to start solo businesses powered by artificial intelligence.
- The city of Suzhou pledged $100 million to help fund and cultivate 10,000 one-person companies by 2028.
- A former product manager now earns $5,800 a month, making automated commercials entirely on his own.
- Experts note that funding solo founders provides local governments with a low-cost tool to address massive youth unemployment.
Young workers in China face a harsh reality when they reach their mid-thirties. Many fear companies will fire them simply because of their age. To survive, these young professionals now start one-person companies. They use artificial intelligence to do the heavy lifting, turning solo operations into fully functioning businesses without hiring any extra staff.
People across Chinese social media call this the curse of 35. Rampant age discrimination exists across the technology industry, government jobs, and other highly competitive sectors. When workers reach 35, they cross an invisible line. Employers often re-evaluate their staff and choose to keep younger, cheaper workers rather than pay veterans.
Karen Dai understands this fear well. The 38-year-old founder of SoloNest hosts weekend events for solo entrepreneurs in Shanghai. She recently gathered about 20 people in their 20s and 30s for a three-hour idea exchange. Dai says the one-person company is a direct product of the era of artificial intelligence. In the past, running a business entirely alone felt almost impossible. Now, smart software handles tasks that once required entire departments, severely lowering the barrier to entry.
Wang Tianyi shows exactly how this new model works. The 26-year-old quit his demanding job as a product manager at an internet company last year. He now makes artificial intelligence-generated commercials for various businesses. Operating entirely on his own, Wang earns up to 40,000 yuan a month, which equals about $5,800. He firmly believes flying solo will soon become a major trend across the country. Because artificial intelligence provides a massive technological boost, one-person companies hold a serious efficiency advantage over traditional firms.
Other workers embrace the solo route out of pure necessity. Shanghai resident Wei Xin worked as a document reviewer at a foreign consulting firm. At 34 years old, she knew smart software would eventually steal her job. Instead of waiting to get fired, she took action. She signed up for a course to learn Google Gemini. She then experimented with creating an artificial-intelligence-generated digital version of herself before pivoting to social media content creation.
Wei admits she feels a lot of anxiety about the rapid rise of new technology. After returning to China last year with a degree from the United States, she realized she had to adapt quickly. She told reporters that if she refuses to use artificial intelligence, the job market will simply eliminate her.
Local governments across China actually want this solo trend to grow. City officials now roll out specific policies to support these smart startups. They even use the English initials OPC, which stands for one-person company, in their official government documents. These cities align their local plans with Beijing’s overarching political goal of achieving complete technological self-reliance over the next decade.
In November, the eastern city of Suzhou made a massive financial promise. The local government vowed to cultivate more than 10,000 talents in one-person companies by the year 2028. Officials plan to funnel around 700 million yuan, or $100 million, toward solo founders working in artificial intelligence robotics, healthcare, and smart transportation. Meanwhile, the southwestern city of Chengdu promised massive subsidies last month. City leaders will give local graduates up to 20,000 yuan to help them establish their own smart firms.
Kyle Chan, an expert on Chinese technology development at the Brookings Institution, tracks these new local policies. He calls these government subsidies a carrot designed to help new startups get off the ground and find early success. More importantly, sponsoring solo founders gives the government a very cheap way to tackle a massive economic crisis. Currently, one in six Chinese citizens between the ages of 16 and 24 cannot find a job. Chan points out that funding a one-person company costs the local government very little compared to traditional job-creation programs.
Despite the government cash and smart tools, building a business remains hard. Wang notes that many of his friends choose independent projects instead of fighting for corporate jobs. However, these new founders often struggle to turn a real profit. Wang says figuring out how actually to sell the final product remains the biggest hurdle for any solo worker.
Even with the financial risks, young Chinese workers continue to build backup plans. They want to secure their futures before they hit the dreaded age limit. Dai wrote an entire book about this movement called One Person Company. She says young professionals constantly ask themselves if they can build what they want using their own two hands and smart software. Escaping the corporate grind gives them a powerful sense of control and deep creative freedom.
