I don't think it is a ruse. The one video was Shanghai, which is one of the most populated cities in China. They talk about how the streets were wall to wall people, and are mostly empty now.
And in one of the video, it showed fields that were once bountiful now left to go to weeds.
I believe the truth is most likely the Chinese lied about their population pre COVID, and again is lying about the impact of COVID, and the utterly poor methods of medical care, or lack thereof, and the impact on the population was huge loss.
My friend told me of China being afflicted with another pathogen when they were shut down and closed that was very deadly.
Who knows the truth, but if the population of China is in the 300-400 million range, they are no longer the endless horde threat they were once perceived to be.