Opinion | How to solve a problem like China’s jobless, ‘lying flat’ youth

Although China’s economy seems to be recovering – driven perhaps more by consumption than production – its youth unemployment approached 20 per cent in March. And with a record 11.6 million students graduating from higher education in the coming months, youth employment may well exceed 20 per cent soon.

In this context, the Chinese government has made job creation a top priority – pulling levers by encouraging state-owned enterprises to hire more younger workers and offering subsidies to employers. Graduates are increasingly seeking the security of public-sector jobs. Many are also applying to graduate schools to avoid the intense competition in the job market.

Against this backdrop, some young Chinese have been in the grip of social phenomena beginning with “lying flat”: why swim futilely against the current when one can do as little as possible? And while “lying flat” – tang ping in Mandarin – has more neutral connotations of Taoist retreat, the more recent emergence of “letting it rot” – bai lan – indicates a deeper disillusionment.

Although not all of these rebels would have got high-pressure jobs demanding 996 weeks (9am to 9pm six days a week) in the first place, some young Chinese have left prestigious jobs for manual labour. Such career switches may offer temporary relief from the rat race and the Marxist sense of alienation that afflicts workers under capitalism, but not a permanent escape from life’s burdens, though.

The truly despondent might take another way out. Recently, four young people died in an apparent suicide pact, after three of them fell from Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie; the fourth took poison. Then there is the trend known as “run philosophy”, as the wealthy and talented consider leaving the mainland for Hong Kong or Singapore.

All these may be seen as different exit routes. Not long ago, China’s youth were among the most hopeful in the world. What happened?