Indian scholar Vijay Prashad looks at China: After poverty alleviation, what choices will young people make in the age of robots?
In his keynote speech at the Global South Academic Forum (2026), Vijay Prashad, director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, recounted China's tremendous changes through firsthand experiences such as the "Happiness Canteen" in Ganzhou, where a meal for people over 80 costs only 3 yuan, and the rebuilding of the old village of "Red Army Village" in Ruijin, saying that having traveled to more than 70 countries in the Global South, "nothing can compare with China's recent development." At the same time, he asked what choices Chinese young people will make after poverty alleviation and in the age of robots, and called on Chinese writers to write about this era.
Body · AI translation
In the eyes of Indian scholars, what does China's dramatic transformation look like? After poverty alleviation, in the age of robots, what choices will young Chinese people make? Recently, at the Global South Academic Forum (2026), jointly hosted by East China Normal University, the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, and the University of Johannesburg of South Africa, Vijay Prashad, director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, delivered a keynote speech, answering with the everyday life of China he has experienced firsthand: at the "Happiness Canteen" in Ganzhou, people over 80 years old pay only 3 yuan for a meal; in the "Red Army Village" of Ruijin, the pine trees planted by 17 young people of the Long March still stand tall, and the old village of the past has been rebuilt anew. Having traveled to more than 70 countries across the Global South, he said bluntly: "Nothing can compare with China's recent development." At the same time, he is also pondering the story after poverty alleviation, calling on Chinese writers today to write about this era. China's practice of eliminating absolute poverty and advancing rural revitalization is precisely the "living present" of the Global South. Strengthening exchanges and mutual learning will let these Chinese stories amid everyday life be sung and spread to more Southern countries.