Lying Flat: China’s Demographic Decline

The American Spectator ^ | January 18, 2023 | Matthew Omolesky

[anthropocene_x]

First came the so-called Sanhe Gods, male migrant workers who ventured from the hinterlands to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other metropolises in search of gainful employment, only to find themselves slaving away in Dickensian “shady factories.” Disenchanted with China’s “struggle culture” the ironically named Sanhe Gods adopted cynical mottos like “work one day and play for three” or “pick up your bucket and run,” in direct and provocative contrast to the motivational propaganda posters on Chinese streets, bearing messages like “Struggle in youth, a brilliant future to come,” “Fight unrestrainedly, chase dreams,” and “If you don’t work hard, no-one can give you the life you want.”

And then, in the spring of 2021, the insouciant credo of the working-class Sanhe Gods started infecting white-collar workers tired of hypercompetitive corporate “wolf culture” and the demands of the “996” lifestyle (working from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. six days a week). Memes washed over online platforms, all promoting a novel ideology called tangping or “lying flat”. Cartoons of lazily recumbent individuals with captions like “You want me to get up? That won’t be possible in this lifetime” were widely shared alongside more philosophical musings. “I can be like Diogenes, who sleeps in his own barrel taking in the sun,” one anonymous individual wrote in a viral post entitled “Lying Flat Is Justice,” a sentiment echoed by other young professionals, evidently weary of Xi’s beloved “continued struggle,” who suggested that by “low material desire and low consumption” one can achieve a “slow-paced life” with “more time to be alone and think” and no need to “bear the pressure of comparing oneself with others.”

A popular movement adopting the slogan “Don’t buy property; don’t buy a car; don’t get married; don’t have children; and don’t consume” presents a serious threat to the communist regime.

[Dr. Sivana]

“I can be like Diogenes, who sleeps in his own barrel taking in the sun,”

Is it possible that a larger percentage of young Chinese know about Diogenes than Americans?

[posterchild]

The CCP does not appear to be as inspiring as they thought.

[spintreebob]

Don’t, don’t, don’t
Sounds like the woke left. Don’t have your own children... you can always run the lives of children owned by the public school system. Don’t have a car, you can always take your private jet to DAVOS. Don’t have material goods. You can always use the material goods of others.

[PIF]

Is it possible that a larger percentage of young Chinese know about Diogenes than Americans?
—

Yes - there was a man in the street interview with random Chinese individuals a year or more ago.

They were asked simple questions about Chinese history prior to Mao. They gave long detailed and thoughtful answers.

History in the West has little economic value, is discounted, and a fading academic subject. In China, history is who they are and of immense interest.

Ask random individuals in the US who Diogenes was and likely get answers like: blank stares, a sports player, a clothing brand, some politician.