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Comment by chasil | Hacker News Reader

I live in Iowa, and I had a roommate who just stopped going to work one day.

I learned after talking to her that she had done this before. In talking to her, it seemed to me a mix of anxiety and depression with a focus on agoraphobia.

Her family from several hundred miles came to retrieve her when they contacted me. She asked to move back in later, but I declined. I saw her start a new career some years afterwards.

I don't know if the "laying flat/tang ping" movement in China, or the issues of the people in the article, are completely separate from this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_ping

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tang ping is just an internet slang. Didn't expect it to have a wikipedia page.

In China, the "normal" is "to try to be the best". For example, less than half of Chinese students can make it into a "good college" (in China there's a very specific definition of a "good college"), but if you didn't make it, like more than 50% of your peers, that's enough to say that you're "bad at studying".

tang ping basically means quiting this kind of culture and accepting that one's normal. Buying a house and settling down in a city that's not Beijing or Shanghai, like 90% of people do.

It has nothing to do with social withdrawal.

the laying flat movement has mostly to do with lack of jobs/opportunity for young people.

- there's a societal trend to not hire people over the age of 30-35 in China. after months of looking for work, they've given up

- there's an unofficial 70% youth unemployment rate, and with 12 million new grads each year and intense competition for government work, sometimes hundred of applicants for a single stable government spot, the new grads give up

- the young generation has realized that no house/car/marriage/kid (没房没车没妻子) is a good way to live, and there's no pressure on them to create a life. so they lay flat. thus the abysmal marriage/child rate in China, which is near the bottom of world ranking

- the new grads don't want to work in a factory, day or night shift, for $2/hour.

- if the workers are in 1st tier cities, they can barely save up any money working and living there, due to the recent 50% reduction in wages ($1000/month -> $500/month) and increased spending on necessities. so it's easier for them to just not work and live off of parents.

> there's a societal trend to not hire people over the age of 30-35 in China

> there's an unofficial 70% youth unemployment rate

> , due to the recent 50% reduction in wages

I couldn't find anything on these points. The second one seems completely unbelievable while also being at odds with the first claim.

What are you referring to?

The last official youth employment hit over 20% before China stopped publishing the figure.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-stop-releasing-you...

Basically there is a trend of overeducation; China is producing millions more university graduates than it needs, without enough white collar jobs, and at the same time there are a lot of job openings in much more poorly paid factory work. This is not unique in East Asia, South Korea also has a lot of youth unemployment for similar reasons. https://keia.org/the-peninsula/low-youth-employment-in-korea...

Also, China is currently suffering from deflation because it produces many more goods than it can consume or export, and wages are also being cut.

It's typically on Chinese social media apps, and when they get popular they get taken down immediately by the government

here are some remnants in non-chinese websites.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2023-06/26/c_1129716071.htm

https://botanwang.com/articles/202308/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%...

https://www.voachinese.com/a/more-chinese-white-collar-worke...

if you want to verify secondary effects: Retail sales of passenger cars in China declined to 1.095 million units, down 21% from a year earlier and 46% from January. https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/chinas-vehicle-sales-drop.... A decline of real estate development investment widened to 9.5% in the first quarter from 9% in the first two months https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-16/china-hom... Stingy Chinese shoppers are returning their goods, erasing up to 75% of their sales value.https://fortune.com/asia/2024/04/17/luxury-brands-new-headac...

Popping the residential real estate investment bubble was probably the root cause behind the collapse in sales of cars, luxury goods, and other consumer products. A lot of consumers who had made highly leveraged investments on unoccupied apartments in "ghost cities" were sitting on significant paper wealth for a few years and felt comfortable spending money. Now that has largely evaporated.

Last time I tracked this closely: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL4N3960Z5/

> lack of jobs/opportunity for young people.

> there's a societal trend to not hire people over the age of 30-35 in China

Did you mean "under" or is it more complicated than "young people"?

These people have always existed. In the 20th century we just called them “shut-ins”. People who socially isolate themselves.

As kids there would be the old run down house with an older man or lady who would rarely be seen. They would be dressed shabbily, and the house would be poorly maintained but livable.

Equally, I know plenty of "Bruce Wayne" types who don't live in crappy conditions, are highly in-demand for their skills and extensive knowledge, but are very much asocial when it comes to in-person stuff.

These people weren't always bathed in the desires of a global culture (that does not work).

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