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| China’s Gen Z, aka Zoomers, born 1995-2010 Shanghai, Bund, looking at Pudong |
A growing number of China’s Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2010, are embracing a “laying flat” attitude about work and life as they throw in the towel in the face of tough competition and opt for a simple, frugal and lonely life. Article
The Zoomers version of Wu Wei, the venerable Taoist philosophy of “do nothing”. But in a productive way, Wu Wei, that is. I wrote something about this in re Zhuangzi.
Can’t help thinking it’s the kids of one-child families, since the One Child policy of 1980 raised millions of “princelings”. Can the poor afford to “Lie Flat”? That’s what my mates in China tell me, anyway. Such as they know. They’re Boomers, ok?
Also can’t help thinking that these Zoomers rather like some of the Zoomers elsewhere, eg, esp, the US. Deciding not to compete. To chill. To chillax. We used to call it “dropping out”, man. Is it so different?
By the way, the Chinese of “lie flat”, not in the article, is 躺平, or Tang Ping. And the English should be “lie” not “lay” as they have in the article. Lay is transitive. You lay a table. You lie down.
