First off, what is "Lying Flat?"
It's genesis was a viral post on Baidu, a Chinese social media application, posted in April of 2021 and quickly gained traction amongst China's working age youth and seems to be a rejection of the idea of the Chinese urban staple of working long hours in the factory for little pay and instead do the "bare minimum" which involves doing temporary or day labor jobs and then living off of instant noodles, sleeping in parks and spending time in internet cafes until they run out of money. One days wages can provide three days of this bare minimum relaxation.
Needless to say this Culture of Overwork has provoked a response from the Chinese government and State media as its believed this sort of activity could threaten their demand for blue collar jobs, social welfare networks and birthrate itself if it spreads.
This "movement" has also been compared to similar movements such as the "Beatnik" movement of the United States in the 1950's, or the more contemporary Satori and Sampo Generations in Japan and South Korea respectively.
South China Morning Post said:“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.
It's genesis was a viral post on Baidu, a Chinese social media application, posted in April of 2021 and quickly gained traction amongst China's working age youth and seems to be a rejection of the idea of the Chinese urban staple of working long hours in the factory for little pay and instead do the "bare minimum" which involves doing temporary or day labor jobs and then living off of instant noodles, sleeping in parks and spending time in internet cafes until they run out of money. One days wages can provide three days of this bare minimum relaxation.
Needless to say this Culture of Overwork has provoked a response from the Chinese government and State media as its believed this sort of activity could threaten their demand for blue collar jobs, social welfare networks and birthrate itself if it spreads.
South China Morning Post said: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”.
This "movement" has also been compared to similar movements such as the "Beatnik" movement of the United States in the 1950's, or the more contemporary Satori and Sampo Generations in Japan and South Korea respectively.
What is ‘lying flat’, and why are Chinese officials standing up to it?
Lying flat, or tang ping in Chinese, means doing the bare minimum to get by, and striving for nothing more than what is absolutely essential for survival, but this ethos poses a threat to President Xi Jinping’s “Chinese dream”.
www.scmp.com