Why China’s youth are ‘lying flat’ in protest of their bleak economic prospects
- Young Chinese fed up with gruelling work hours, conspicuous consumption and skyrocketing house prices are protesting by doing the bare minimum
- The social resistance movement called ‘lying flat’ is worrying authorities, who see it as a potential threat to China’s dream of national rejuvenation
Hu Ai was stuck in traffic with her parents during the Labour Day holiday last month when she finally realised China’s culture of overwork had become too much.
“My boss called and told me to walk from the highway to the nearest subway station and rush back to work on an urgent assignment,” the 33-year-old recalled.
“That’s the first time my parents found out how hard my job is and it made my mum cry in the car.”
In the weeks that followed, Hu – who works for a media company in Shenzhen – found solace in a form of online social protest sweeping through the world’s second largest economy.
We seem to have woken up suddenly and see a new way out
From white-collar workers in China’s bustling cities to university students, an army of frustrated young people are taking to social media and internet message boards to declare themselves “‘lying flat youth”.