Exhausted and without hope, East Asian youth are ‘lying flat’

Now 24, Li just wants to take a rest.Across the country, young people like Li — who requested to be referred to by that pseudonym because he fears career and political repercussions for his views — are getting tired of the fierce competition for college and jobs, and the relentless rat race once they get hired.They’re now embracing a new philosophy they’ve called “tang ping,” or “lying flat.”The phrase apparently traces its origins to a post earlier this year in an online forum run by the Chinese search giant Baidu. The author of that now-deleted post suggested that instead of working one’s entire life chasing after an apartment and traditional family values, people should pursue a simple life.In other words, just “lie flat.”Talk of “lying flat” has spread rapidly through China as young people contend with intense competition for the most attractive jobs, especially in tech and other white collar fields. As the country cracks down on private enterprise, meanwhile, the public has grown wary of what many see as a grueling work culture. Commonplace at many tech firms and startups are demands for people to work nearly double — or more — the number of hours in a typical work week. Interest in “lying flat” has exploded on social media and attracted the interest of censors, who in some cases have restricted the use of the term. Several state media outlets have also pushed back against the conversation, suggesting that young people should strive to work hard instead. This type of phenomenon, though, isn’t limited to China. Across East Asia, young people say they’ve become exhausted by the prospect of working hard for seemingly little reward.In South Korea, young people are giving up on marriage and home ownership. In Japan, they are so pessimistic about the country’s future that they are eschewing material possessions.”Young people are very burnt out,” said Lim Woon-taek, a professor of sociology at Keimyung University in South Korea. “They don’t know why they have to work so hard.”As more young people grow frustrated with relentless pressure, they say they want to — and in some cases are — giving up conventional rites of passage, such as getting married or having children.Even after finding jobs, many workers have bemoaned intense work schedules, especially at major tech firms. The culture, known as “996,” refers to working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. The excessive work culture was blasted by China’s top court on Thursday. It called out companies across a range of industries it said violated labor rules, including an unnamed courier firm that told employees to work 996 hours. A lot of young people are working for such companies, according to Terence Chong, an associate professor of economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).”They compete with each other,” he said. So even if not everyone wants to work such hours, they may feel compelled to do so to keep up.Those stresses aren’t limited to the tech sector. Tony Tang — a 36-year-old university professor in Guangdong — said he was tired from working 12 hours a day, seven days a week.”I think I’m too overworked,” said Tang, who requested to be referred to by the pseudonym Tony Tang because he was afraid of facing repercussions for his views. “They just regard working hard as one kind of things for Chinese people to do.”The rising cost of housing is adding to the pressure. As measured by square meter, the average cost of a unit in a residential building in Beijing more than doubled in the six years to 2019, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Over the same period, the average annual disposable income in the city increased 66%. “No matter how hard they work, it is very difficult to buy [a] house,” said Chong of CUHK. “In a society [where] you see some hope there, if you work hard, then you can … buy [a] house and so on, then you can work hard. But the thing is if you cannot see any hope, then you want to ‘tang ping.'”

Opting out of dating, marriage and kidsWhile “tang ping” is a relatively new trend in China, young people in other parts of East Asia say they’ve been struggling with similar frustrations for years. At just 22, Shin Ye-rim has given up on ever getting married, giving birth or owning a home.”I think the biggest problem is that house prices are going up too severely,” said Shin, who studies at the prestigious Yonsei University in Seoul. She added that she didn’t know if she could financially support a child. In 2011, a South Korean newspaper coined the word “sampo” — literally “give up three” — to describe a generation who has given up on In 2014, interpersonal relationships and home ownership were added to that list, giving rise to the “opo” generation, or “give up five.” More sacrifices have been added since then, eventually giving rise to the term “n-po,” referring to the nth degree.In 2017, 74% of South Korean adults said they gave up at least one thing — meaning marriage, dating, leisure activities, home ownership or another aspect of life — because of economic difficulties, according to a survey of 3,880 people conducted by job portal Incruit.As in other countries, pressures on South Korea’s job market have increased, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, South Korea’s unemployment rate rose to 4%, its highest level in 19 years, according to government website Statistics Korea. The data also showed that 9% of people between the ages of 15 and 29 were unemployed.”The job market is so poor that it becomes hard to get a job,” said Lim, the Keimyung University professor. “Because there are no jobs, you are less able to plan a future-oriented life.” As in China, apartment prices are skyrocketing. Median prices for an apartment in July were higher than at any point since KB Kookmin Bank began keeping records in December 2008.There are also social reasons for giving up on traditional roles. Feminist issues, such as gender discrimination and digital sex crimes, have recently come to the fore in patriarchal South Korea. Shin, the Yonsei student, said her mother quit her job after giving birth to her and her younger sister. Now, she doesn’t want to let marriage get in the way of her own personal or professional life. “I thought that my marriage partner could get in the way of my professional work or things that I want to do personally,” Shin said. “I’ve been studying and working hard to achieve self-fulfillment, but I don’t want to give up on that by getting married or having a child.”Resignation generationYoung Japanese people have been frustrated with work pressure and economic stagnation for years, too. Some identify as the “satori sedai,” or “resignation generation,” a term first used in 2010 on 2channel, an anonymous message board in Japan that was popular at the time. It’s characterized by pessimistic attitudes towards the future and a lack of material desire. “I spend my money only on things [that] I like and find value [in],” said Kenta Ito, 25, who describes himself a minimalist and identifies with the satori sedai. He earns a decent wage at a consulting firm in Tokyo, but doesn’t care about owning things like a house or a car.How much of that shift toward an older population will ultimately be attributable to “tang ping,” though, may not become clear. And some experts, like CUHK’s Chong, suggested that while the trend might reflect what’s taking place in the minds of some young people right now, many aspects of the manifesto — like slacking off at work and forgoing material things — may never become widespread. “‘Tang ping’ may be just the thought of some young people,” Chong said. “Ultimately, in the heart of people, people still want to work hard and get a good life.”— Zixu Wang, Laura He, Oh So-yeong, Chie Kobayashi, Wako Sato, Miku Morigasaki, Lauren Lau, Sasha Chua and Kazumi Duncan contributed to this report.