ExplainerWhat is ‘lying flat’, and why are Chinese officials standing up to it?

China’s Gen Z and its youngest millennials are finding solace in lying flat amid a collective swell in antipathy toward working themselves to the bone

Lying flat, or tang ping in Chinese, means doing the bare minimum to get by, and the ethos poses a threat to President Xi Jinping’s ‘Chinese dream’

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“Lying flat” represents the mindset of lying down instead of being a productive member of society. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Ji Siqi,He Huifengin GuangdongandBrian Peach

Published: 2:00pm, 24 Oct 2021Updated: 2:35pm, 12 Apr 2023

“Lying flat” is a movement about doing nothing. And that makes it about everything.

For months, the chatter surrounding lying flat, or tang ping, has permeated Chinese society, sowed discourse and become ubiquitous enough to finally warrant a public condemnation by President Xi Jinping.

“It is necessary to prevent the stagnation of the social class, unblock the channels for upward social mobility, create opportunities for more people to become rich, and form an environment for improvement in which everyone participates, avoiding involution and lying flat,” Xi said in comments published on October 15 by the Communist Party’s flagship journal on political theory, Qiushi.

His words address a trend that strikes at the very heart of his “Chinese dream” ideology, which he has described as the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.

So what does ‘lying flat’ mean?

“Lying flat” essentially means doing the bare minimum to get by, and striving for nothing more than what is absolutely essential for one’s survival.

It represents the mindset of lying down instead of being a productive member of society. Rather than striving to study hard, buy a home, or even start a family, a subsection of society is rejecting it all to lie flat.

Some have dubbed it a manifesto against materialism, some suspect it is simply being lazy, and others say this type of defeatist attitude is an inevitable result when people become so overwhelmed and dismayed by the notion of working themselves to the bone that they feel there is no other option but to give up.

So what does ‘lying flat’ mean?

Where did ‘lying flat’ come from?