The millennials in go-getting China happy to be totally average
Some young Chinese – dubbed Buddhist Youth online – are rejecting the relentless pressure to succeed and are content to go with the flow
While their country’s leader has encouraged citizens to work harder and dream big, some Chinese millennials are declaring their allegiance to the art of being average.
Nicknamed “Buddhist Youth”, these young people have embraced a laissez-faire approach to life which has more to do with being chilled out than reading religious texts.
“Life is quite tiring,” said 23-year-old Guo Jia, who believes being a Buddhist Youth means “accepting the things you cannot change and going with the flow”.
As a viral Chinese social media post outlined this month, behaviour associated with the largely irreligious Buddhist Youth include eating the same food every day, allowing one’s romantic partner to make all the decisions and being devoid of strong feelings about virtually everything.
They are the latest in a string of subcultures to achieve online fame in China – with labels like “greasy uncles”, a type of pompous yet slovenly middle-aged man, to “cultured youth”, the Chinese equivalent of a hipster.
Some of these labels have been condemned by the authorities, but Buddhist Youth have been greeted – appropriately – with indifference.