China has its own disturbing version of “Quiet Quitting”
And it is much, much worse
“Quiet quitting” is IN…slaving 3 shifts in a row is OUT.
When that clock strikes 5…that’s it! You’re free.
Your boss can’t call a half-sober you on Saturday night and demand you come in early Sunday morning.
No actual quitting is involved, but there is a conscious effort to draw a boundary between work and personal life.
“Quiet quitting” is a refusal to go the extra mile. It is doing just enough to stay on the job, but not more. Gen Zs and Millennials are telling ‘The Man’:
“I’m not gonna let work take control of my life. I’m gonna go after things that give me fulfillment and joy. And I’m late for my wine class, so cool it with the overtime demands, Uhmmkay?’
Sounds like American bravado, but as it happens, the other superpower on the other side of the world, China, is struggling with its own version of “Quiet Quitting.”
Theirs is much, much worse.
In China, they call it “Lying Flat” or Tang Ping (躺平).
“Lying Flat is Justice”
That was the title of the April 2021 online post of Luo Huazhong, a 31-year-old former factory worker. He’s considered the father of the “lying flat” movement.
In 2016, he felt empty and wanted to do something real with his life.
So he quit his factory gig and cycled the 1,300 miles from Sichuan to Tibet. Because he can.
Free from the shackles of work, he was able to engage in activities he actually enjoyed — like reading Philosophy, among others.
How does he eat?
Well, he makes ends meet by doing odd jobs every now and then. (With his minimalist and low-key lifestyle, $60 is usually enough to get him through the month.)
Now, this will sound familiar. The “Lying flat” movement is a refusal to join the rat race — which in China is represented by the number “996.” Employees toil from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M., six days a week.
Luo’s little post has gone viral and sparked a movement of disenchanted Chinese youth.
But wait…there’s more!
The Chinese are about to take this to another level.
“Let It Rot”
It turns out “lying flat” is not enough.
“Let It Rot” or Bai Lan (摆烂) is a step higher on the cynicism scale. The term was popularized in social media posts talking about the futility of hard work and why it’s better, and logical, to not even try.
These posts quickly go viral, which can only mean it has hit a nerve.
Hundreds of millions of views later, we have a movement that has the Chinese government worried.
A deep frustration percolates among the Chinese youth on the lack of economic opportunity and mobility in their society.
“Letting it rot” is the passive response to this situation — adopting a lifestyle where one has given up the pursuit of life goals one has judged unattainable.
To “let it rot” means staying at home, not really doing anything productive — not going to school, not going to work, not getting married, not having kids.
To their thinking:
“Why should I waste my life working hard, when at the end of my life, I have literally nothing to show for it.”
This analysis might be due to the high cost of living in China, especially in the big cities.
In housing alone: It literally takes a lifetime to pay off a decent house. But that’s when you’re lucky and your salary can cover the monthly mortgage.
Salaries in China have so stagnated that a two-income household may not even be enough to maintain that household.
And that’s just housing. (Without a decent house, one can’t realistically think of marriage…much less children.)
Whereas working hard got results for this generation’s parents and grandparents, today’s youth have found that they have to work just as hard only to stay in place. Like society is like one giant, cruel treadmill.
So instead of engaging in hard work that ultimately doesn’t pay, why not lie down and let it rot?
The trend is unnerving Chinese leadership, obviously, which is seriously drumming up youth support for nation-building. No less than President Xi Jinping himself, in a major speech, reminded the youth to align their personal ideals with the bigger picture. (They didn’t hear the speech. Most of them were still asleep.)
“Lying flat” and “let it rot” make “quiet quitting” look like a commitment ceremony. At least “quiet quitting” deals with employee disengagement.
The Chinese variant is a disengagement in life.
