First, there was the century of humiliation, in which China was subjugated by western powers. Then there was the era of reform and opening up, where China’s rapid economic development paved the way for what was supposed to be the Chinese century. But now, according to social media users , China is in another epoch worth naming: the garbage time of history.
In recent weeks, Chinese chat groups and WeChat feeds have been buzzing with discussion of whether China has entered a period of economic stagnation or regression in which failure is all but inevitable, called a “garbage time of history”.
