Letters | ‘Lying flat’ challenges China’s toxic work culture. It has nothing to do with being lazy

Readers discuss what is driving the trend of ‘lying flat’ in China, and the potential cost of a war over Taiwan

Reading Time:2 minutes

Commuters in a subway station in Beijing on April 22. Photo: AP

Published: 2:30pm, 29 Oct 2022

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification.

I am writing to respond to the report, “China’s frustrated middle class change spending, investing attitudes, but are they ‘lying flat’?” (October 18).

The article glosses over the true meaning of and reasoning behind the Gen-Z phenomenon of tang ping, or “lying flat”. Lying flat did not become a trend because young people want to avoid being “productive members of society” but rather as a way to push back against a damaging, inescapable burnout culture, known in Chinese as nei juan, or “involution”. This culture, characterised by extremely long hours and endless competition, is pushing students and workers to breaking point.

It is this phenomenon that is leading to the very frustrations of the middle class that this article discusses. Middle-class workers who have suffered involution throughout their education and careers, and who have finally made a living for themselves, are now seeing their work be devalued.

Isabel Brack, Washington

Too much at stake for US and China to go to war

First, here are some key facts and figures on mainland China, Taiwan and Washington.