These Chinese Millennials Are ‘Chilling,’ and Beijing Isn’t Happy
By Elsie Chen, 7/3/21, New York Times

Five years ago, Luo Huazhong discovered that he enjoyed
doing nothing. He quit his job as factory worker in China,
biked 1,300 miles from Sichuan Province to Tibet & decided
he could get by on odd jobs and $60/month from his savings.
He called his new lifestyle “lying flat.”

“I have been chilling,” Luo, 31, wrote in a blog post in
April, describing his way of life. “I don’t feel like
there’s anything wrong.”

He titled his post “Lying Flat Is Justice,” attaching a
photo of himself lying on his bed in a dark room with the
curtains drawn. Before long, the post was being celebrated
by Chinese millennials as an anti-consumerist manifesto.
“Lying flat” went viral & has since become a broader
statement about Chinese society.

A generation ago, the route to success in China was to
work hard, get married & have kids. The country’s authori-
tarianism was seen as a fair trade-off as millions were
lifted out of poverty. But with employees working longer
hours & housing prices rising faster than incomes, many
young Chinese fear they will be the first generation not
to do better than their parents.

They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity
narrative by refusing to participate in it.

Luo’s blog post was removed by censors, who saw it as an
affront to Beijing’s economic ambitions. Mentions of
“lying flat” — tangping, as it’s known in Mandarin — are
heavily restricted on the Chinese internet. An official
counternarrative has also emerged, encouraging young people
to work hard for the sake of the country’s future.

“After working for so long, I just felt numb, like a machine,”
Luo said in an interview. “And so I resigned.”

To lie flat means to forgo marriage, not have kids, stay
unemployed and eschew material wants such as a house or a
car. It is the opposite of what China’s leaders have asked
of their people. But that didn’t bother Leon Ding.

Ding, 22, has been lying flat for almost 3 months & thinks
of the act as “silent resistance.” He dropped out of a
university in his final year in March because he didn’t like
the comp sci major his parents had chosen for him.

After leaving school, Ding used his savings to rent a room
in Shenzhen. He tried to find a regular office job but
realized that most positions required him to work long hours.
“I want a stable job that allows me to have my own time to
relax, but where can I find it?” he said.

Ding thinks young people should work hard for what they
love, but not “996” — 9 am-9 pm, 6 days/week — as many
employers in China expect. Frustrated with the job search,
he decided that “lying flat” was the way to go.

“To be honest, it feels really comfortable,” he said.
“I don’t want to be too hard on myself.”

To make ends meet, Ding gets paid to play video games &
has minimized his spending by doing things like cutting
out his favorite bubble tea. Asked about his long-term
plans, he said: “Come back and ask me in six months.
I only plan for six months.”

While plenty of Chinese millennials continue to adhere to
the country’s traditional work ethic, “lying flat” reflects
both a nascent counterculture movement and a backlash
against China’s hypercompetitive work environment.

Xiang Biao, a prof of social anthropology at Oxford U. who
focuses on Chinese society, called tangping culture a
turning point for China. “Young people feel a kind of
pressure that they can't explain and they feel that promises
were broken,” he said. “People realize that material better-
ment is no longer the single most important source of
meaning in life.”

The ruling Communist Party, wary of any form of social
instability, has targeted the “lying flat” idea as a threat
to stability in China. Censors have deleted a tangping group
with more than 9,000 members on Douban, a popular internet
forum. The authorities also barred posts on another
tangping forum with more than 200,000 members.

In May, China’s internet regulator ordered online platforms
to “strictly restrict” new posts on tangping, acc. to a
directive obtained by The NY Times. A 2nd directive required
e-commerce platforms to stop selling clothes, phone cases
and other merchandise branded with “tangping.”

The state news media has called tangping “shameful,” and a
newspaper warned against “lying flat before getting rich.”
Yu Minhong, a prominent billionaire, urged young people not
to lie down, because “otherwise who can we rely on for the
future of our country?”

Luo decided to write about tangping after he saw people
heatedly discussing China’s latest census results in April
& calls for the country to address a looming demographic
crisis by having more babies.

He described his original “lying flat” blog post as “an
inner monologue from a man living at the bottom of the society.”

“Those people who say lying down is shameful are shameless,”
he said. “I have the right to choose a slow lifestyle.
I didn’t do anything destructive to society. Do we have to
work 12 hrs/day in a sweatshop, and is that justice?”

Luo was born in rural Jiande County, in east Zhejiang
Province. In 2007, he dropped out of a vocational high
school and started working in factories. One job involved
working 12-hr shifts at a tire factory. By the end of the day,
he had blisters all over his feet, he said.

In 2014, he found a job as a product inspector in a factory
but didn’t like it. He quit after two years and took on the
occasional acting gig to make ends meet. (In 2018, he played
a corpse in a Chinese movie by, of course, lying flat.)

Today, he lives with his family and spends his days reading
philosophy & news & working out. He said it was an ideal
lifestyle, allowing him to live minimally & “think & express
freely.” He encourages his followers, who call him
“the Master of Lying Down,” to do the same.

After hearing about Luo’s tangping post on a Chinese
podcast, Zhang Xinmin, 36, was inspired to write a song
about it.

Zhang, a musician based in Wuhan, had quit his job in adver-
tising five years ago to pursue his music, and the idea of
lying flat resonated with him. He called his song
“Tangping Is the Right Way.”

Zhang uploaded the song to his social media platforms on
June 3, and within a day censors had deleted it from 3
websites. He was furious.

“Nowadays, only running forward is allowed, but not lying
down,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that they
deleted this song.”

He eventually uploaded the song as a video on YouTube,
which is blocked in China. The video shows him lying down
on his sofa, casually strumming his guitar as he sings in
a breezy voice:

Lying down is really good
Lying down is wonderful
Lying down is the right thing to do
Lie down so you won’t fall anymore
Lying down means never falling down.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/world/asia/china-slackers-tangping.html

On Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 2:07:13 PM UTC-4, David P. wrote:
> These Chinese Millennials Are ‘Chilling,’ and Beijing Isn’t Happy
> By Elsie Chen, 7/3/21, New York Times
>
> Five years ago, Luo Huazhong discovered that he enjoyed
> doing nothing. He quit his job as factory worker in China,
> biked 1,300 miles from Sichuan Province to Tibet & decided
> he could get by on odd jobs and $60/month from his savings.
> He called his new lifestyle “lying flat.”
>
> “I have been chilling,” Luo, 31, wrote in a blog post in
> April, describing his way of life. “I don’t feel like
> there’s anything wrong.”
>
> He titled his post “Lying Flat Is Justice,” attaching a
> photo of himself lying on his bed in a dark room with the
> curtains drawn. Before long, the post was being celebrated
> by Chinese millennials as an anti-consumerist manifesto.
> “Lying flat” went viral & has since become a broader
> statement about Chinese society.
>
> A generation ago, the route to success in China was to
> work hard, get married & have kids. The country’s authori-
> tarianism was seen as a fair trade-off as millions were
> lifted out of poverty. But with employees working longer
> hours & housing prices rising faster than incomes, many
> young Chinese fear they will be the first generation not
> to do better than their parents.
>
> They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity
> narrative by refusing to participate in it.
>
> Luo’s blog post was removed by censors, who saw it as an
> affront to Beijing’s economic ambitions. Mentions of
> “lying flat” — tangping, as it’s known in Mandarin — are
> heavily restricted on the Chinese internet. An official
> counternarrative has also emerged, encouraging young people
> to work hard for the sake of the country’s future.
>
> “After working for so long, I just felt numb, like a machine,”
> Luo said in an interview. “And so I resigned.”
>
> To lie flat means to forgo marriage, not have kids, stay
> unemployed and eschew material wants such as a house or a
> car. It is the opposite of what China’s leaders have asked
> of their people. But that didn’t bother Leon Ding.
>
> Ding, 22, has been lying flat for almost 3 months & thinks
> of the act as “silent resistance.” He dropped out of a
> university in his final year in March because he didn’t like
> the comp sci major his parents had chosen for him.
>
> After leaving school, Ding used his savings to rent a room
> in Shenzhen. He tried to find a regular office job but
> realized that most positions required him to work long hours.
> “I want a stable job that allows me to have my own time to
> relax, but where can I find it?” he said.
>
> Ding thinks young people should work hard for what they
> love, but not “996” — 9 am-9 pm, 6 days/week — as many
> employers in China expect. Frustrated with the job search,
> he decided that “lying flat” was the way to go.
>
> “To be honest, it feels really comfortable,” he said.
> “I don’t want to be too hard on myself.”
>
> To make ends meet, Ding gets paid to play video games &
> has minimized his spending by doing things like cutting
> out his favorite bubble tea. Asked about his long-term
> plans, he said: “Come back and ask me in six months.
> I only plan for six months.”
>
> While plenty of Chinese millennials continue to adhere to
> the country’s traditional work ethic, “lying flat” reflects
> both a nascent counterculture movement and a backlash
> against China’s hypercompetitive work environment.
>
> Xiang Biao, a prof of social anthropology at Oxford U. who
> focuses on Chinese society, called tangping culture a
> turning point for China. “Young people feel a kind of
> pressure that they can't explain and they feel that promises
> were broken,” he said. “People realize that material better-
> ment is no longer the single most important source of
> meaning in life.”
>
> The ruling Communist Party, wary of any form of social
> instability, has targeted the “lying flat” idea as a threat
> to stability in China. Censors have deleted a tangping group
> with more than 9,000 members on Douban, a popular internet
> forum. The authorities also barred posts on another
> tangping forum with more than 200,000 members.
>
> In May, China’s internet regulator ordered online platforms
> to “strictly restrict” new posts on tangping, acc. to a
> directive obtained by The NY Times. A 2nd directive required
> e-commerce platforms to stop selling clothes, phone cases
> and other merchandise branded with “tangping.”
>
> The state news media has called tangping “shameful,” and a
> newspaper warned against “lying flat before getting rich.”
> Yu Minhong, a prominent billionaire, urged young people not
> to lie down, because “otherwise who can we rely on for the
> future of our country?”
>
> Luo decided to write about tangping after he saw people
> heatedly discussing China’s latest census results in April
> & calls for the country to address a looming demographic
> crisis by having more babies.
>
> He described his original “lying flat” blog post as “an
> inner monologue from a man living at the bottom of the society.”
>
> “Those people who say lying down is shameful are shameless,”
> he said. “I have the right to choose a slow lifestyle.
> I didn’t do anything destructive to society. Do we have to
> work 12 hrs/day in a sweatshop, and is that justice?”
>
> Luo was born in rural Jiande County, in east Zhejiang
> Province. In 2007, he dropped out of a vocational high
> school and started working in factories. One job involved
> working 12-hr shifts at a tire factory. By the end of the day,
> he had blisters all over his feet, he said.
>
> In 2014, he found a job as a product inspector in a factory
> but didn’t like it. He quit after two years and took on the
> occasional acting gig to make ends meet. (In 2018, he played
> a corpse in a Chinese movie by, of course, lying flat.)
>
> Today, he lives with his family and spends his days reading
> philosophy & news & working out. He said it was an ideal
> lifestyle, allowing him to live minimally & “think & express
> freely.” He encourages his followers, who call him
> “the Master of Lying Down,” to do the same.
>
> After hearing about Luo’s tangping post on a Chinese
> podcast, Zhang Xinmin, 36, was inspired to write a song
> about it.
>
> Zhang, a musician based in Wuhan, had quit his job in adver-
> tising five years ago to pursue his music, and the idea of
> lying flat resonated with him. He called his song
> “Tangping Is the Right Way.”
>
> Zhang uploaded the song to his social media platforms on
> June 3, and within a day censors had deleted it from 3
> websites. He was furious.
>
> “Nowadays, only running forward is allowed, but not lying
> down,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that they
> deleted this song.”
>
> He eventually uploaded the song as a video on YouTube,
> which is blocked in China. The video shows him lying down
> on his sofa, casually strumming his guitar as he sings in
> a breezy voice:
>
> Lying down is really good
> Lying down is wonderful
> Lying down is the right thing to do
> Lie down so you won’t fall anymore
> Lying down means never falling down.
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/world/asia/china-slackers-tangping.html

Funny.

One can easily writes article with title like:
These X [name of a country] millennials have constipation and Y [name of a capital] isn't happy.
And with statements like "They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity [or whatever]
narrative by refusing to participate in it. "

If you want to discuss this kind of article, please lead the way.

"David P." wrote in message
news:edf8e41c-e254-45a1-84b9-941ee3ed4ae2n@googlegroups.com...
>
> These Chinese Millennials Are ‘Chilling,’ and Beijing Isn’t Happy
> By Elsie Chen, 7/3/21, New York Times
>
> Five years ago, Luo Huazhong discovered that he enjoyed doing nothing. He
> quit his job as factory worker in China, biked 1,300 miles from Sichuan
> Province to Tibet & decided he could get by on odd jobs and $60/month from
> his savings. He called his new lifestyle “lying flat.”

And it seems to be catching on, much to Beijing's chagrin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sot1xypiB8

The rising prominence of "DO NOTHING" philosophy among Sino-Millennials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elIy2DoYBF8

Is this a Sino-Hippie movement in the making?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elIy2DoYBF8

Anxious, Beijing?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4mFiU7Giu8

On Thu, 8 Jul 2021 20:50:43 -0500
"Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:
> "David P." wrote in message
> news:edf8e41c-e254-45a1-84b9-941ee3ed4ae2n@googlegroups.com...
> >
> > These Chinese Millennials Are ‘Chilling,’ and Beijing Isn’t Happy
> > By Elsie Chen, 7/3/21, New York Times
> >
> > Five years ago, Luo Huazhong discovered that he enjoyed doing nothing. He
> > quit his job as factory worker in China, biked 1,300 miles from Sichuan
> > Province to Tibet & decided he could get by on odd jobs and $60/month from
> > his savings. He called his new lifestyle “lying flat.”
>
> And it seems to be catching on, much to Beijing's chagrin:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sot1xypiB8
>
> The rising prominence of "DO NOTHING" philosophy among Sino-Millennials:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elIy2DoYBF8
>
> Is this a Sino-Hippie movement in the making?:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elIy2DoYBF8

The last 2 links above are the same. Is this what you intended ?

> Anxious, Beijing?:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4mFiU7Giu8

--
vlaho.ninja/prog

"Spiros Bousbouras" wrote in message news:wPGVyyJGnWHKTz3PT@bongo-ra.co...
>
> The last 2 links above are the same. Is this what you intended ?

I take it you're too young to remember Dr. Timothy Leary. During the 1960s,
he coined and popularized the catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out." In
other words, THINK FOR YOURSELF AND QUESTION AUTHORITY...

On Friday, July 9, 2021 at 1:50:51 AM UTC, Byker wrote:
> "David P." wrote in message
> news:edf8e41c-e254-45a1...@googlegroups.com...
> >
> > These Chinese Millennials Are ‘Chilling,’ and Beijing Isn’t Happy
> > By Elsie Chen, 7/3/21, New York Times
> >
> > Five years ago, Luo Huazhong discovered that he enjoyed doing nothing. He
> > quit his job as factory worker in China, biked 1,300 miles from Sichuan
> > Province to Tibet & decided he could get by on odd jobs and $60/month from
> > his savings. He called his new lifestyle “lying flat.”
> And it seems to be catching on, much to Beijing's chagrin:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sot1xypiB8
>
> The rising prominence of "DO NOTHING" philosophy among Sino-Millennials:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elIy2DoYBF8
>
> Is this a Sino-Hippie movement in the making?:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elIy2DoYBF8
>
> Anxious, Beijing?:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4mFiU7Giu8
Byker, like many Americans, wants to see a slow-down or complete halt to China's progress. Dream on!
For one Chinese who wants to chill out, many more are warming up and many more still are all fired-up for achievements and successes.

On Tue, 13 Jul 2021 20:14:08 -0500
"Byker" <byker@do~rag.net> wrote:
> "Spiros Bousbouras" wrote in message news:wPGVyyJGnWHKTz3PT@bongo-ra.co...
> >
> > The last 2 links above are the same. Is this what you intended ?
>
> I take it you're too young to remember Dr. Timothy Leary. During the 1960s,
> he coined and popularized the catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out." In
> other words, THINK FOR YOURSELF AND QUESTION AUTHORITY...

I know who Leary is but I don't see what he has to do with my comment. You
posted 4 youtube links but 2 were identical so I was curious whether you
accidentally put in your post twice the same link.

On Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 4:47:15 PM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:
> On Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 2:07:13 PM UTC-4, David P. wrote:
> > These Chinese Millennials Are ‘Chilling,’ and Beijing Isn’t Happy
> > By Elsie Chen, 7/3/21, New York Times
> >
> > Five years ago, Luo Huazhong discovered that he enjoyed
> > doing nothing. He quit his job as factory worker in China,
> > biked 1,300 miles from Sichuan Province to Tibet & decided
> > he could get by on odd jobs and $60/month from his savings.
> > He called his new lifestyle “lying flat.”
> >
> > “I have been chilling,” Luo, 31, wrote in a blog post in
> > April, describing his way of life. “I don’t feel like
> > there’s anything wrong.”
> >
> > He titled his post “Lying Flat Is Justice,” attaching a
> > photo of himself lying on his bed in a dark room with the
> > curtains drawn. Before long, the post was being celebrated
> > by Chinese millennials as an anti-consumerist manifesto.
> > “Lying flat” went viral & has since become a broader
> > statement about Chinese society.
> >
> > A generation ago, the route to success in China was to
> > work hard, get married & have kids. The country’s authori-
> > tarianism was seen as a fair trade-off as millions were
> > lifted out of poverty. But with employees working longer
> > hours & housing prices rising faster than incomes, many
> > young Chinese fear they will be the first generation not
> > to do better than their parents.
> >
> > They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity
> > narrative by refusing to participate in it.
> >
> > Luo’s blog post was removed by censors, who saw it as an
> > affront to Beijing’s economic ambitions. Mentions of
> > “lying flat” — tangping, as it’s known in Mandarin — are
> > heavily restricted on the Chinese internet. An official
> > counternarrative has also emerged, encouraging young people
> > to work hard for the sake of the country’s future.
> >
> > “After working for so long, I just felt numb, like a machine,”
> > Luo said in an interview. “And so I resigned.”
> >
> > To lie flat means to forgo marriage, not have kids, stay
> > unemployed and eschew material wants such as a house or a
> > car. It is the opposite of what China’s leaders have asked
> > of their people. But that didn’t bother Leon Ding.
> >
> > Ding, 22, has been lying flat for almost 3 months & thinks
> > of the act as “silent resistance.” He dropped out of a
> > university in his final year in March because he didn’t like
> > the comp sci major his parents had chosen for him.
> >
> > After leaving school, Ding used his savings to rent a room
> > in Shenzhen. He tried to find a regular office job but
> > realized that most positions required him to work long hours.
> > “I want a stable job that allows me to have my own time to
> > relax, but where can I find it?” he said.
> >
> > Ding thinks young people should work hard for what they
> > love, but not “996” — 9 am-9 pm, 6 days/week — as many
> > employers in China expect. Frustrated with the job search,
> > he decided that “lying flat” was the way to go.
> >
> > “To be honest, it feels really comfortable,” he said.
> > “I don’t want to be too hard on myself.”
> >
> > To make ends meet, Ding gets paid to play video games &
> > has minimized his spending by doing things like cutting
> > out his favorite bubble tea. Asked about his long-term
> > plans, he said: “Come back and ask me in six months.
> > I only plan for six months.”
> >
> > While plenty of Chinese millennials continue to adhere to
> > the country’s traditional work ethic, “lying flat” reflects
> > both a nascent counterculture movement and a backlash
> > against China’s hypercompetitive work environment.
> >
> > Xiang Biao, a prof of social anthropology at Oxford U. who
> > focuses on Chinese society, called tangping culture a
> > turning point for China. “Young people feel a kind of
> > pressure that they can't explain and they feel that promises
> > were broken,” he said. “People realize that material better-
> > ment is no longer the single most important source of
> > meaning in life.”
> >
> > The ruling Communist Party, wary of any form of social
> > instability, has targeted the “lying flat” idea as a threat
> > to stability in China. Censors have deleted a tangping group
> > with more than 9,000 members on Douban, a popular internet
> > forum. The authorities also barred posts on another
> > tangping forum with more than 200,000 members.
> >
> > In May, China’s internet regulator ordered online platforms
> > to “strictly restrict” new posts on tangping, acc. to a
> > directive obtained by The NY Times. A 2nd directive required
> > e-commerce platforms to stop selling clothes, phone cases
> > and other merchandise branded with “tangping.”
> >
> > The state news media has called tangping “shameful,” and a
> > newspaper warned against “lying flat before getting rich.”
> > Yu Minhong, a prominent billionaire, urged young people not
> > to lie down, because “otherwise who can we rely on for the
> > future of our country?”
> >
> > Luo decided to write about tangping after he saw people
> > heatedly discussing China’s latest census results in April
> > & calls for the country to address a looming demographic
> > crisis by having more babies.
> >
> > He described his original “lying flat” blog post as “an
> > inner monologue from a man living at the bottom of the society.”
> >
> > “Those people who say lying down is shameful are shameless,”
> > he said. “I have the right to choose a slow lifestyle.
> > I didn’t do anything destructive to society. Do we have to
> > work 12 hrs/day in a sweatshop, and is that justice?”
> >
> > Luo was born in rural Jiande County, in east Zhejiang
> > Province. In 2007, he dropped out of a vocational high
> > school and started working in factories. One job involved
> > working 12-hr shifts at a tire factory. By the end of the day,
> > he had blisters all over his feet, he said.
> >
> > In 2014, he found a job as a product inspector in a factory
> > but didn’t like it. He quit after two years and took on the
> > occasional acting gig to make ends meet. (In 2018, he played
> > a corpse in a Chinese movie by, of course, lying flat.)
> >
> > Today, he lives with his family and spends his days reading
> > philosophy & news & working out. He said it was an ideal
> > lifestyle, allowing him to live minimally & “think & express
> > freely.” He encourages his followers, who call him
> > “the Master of Lying Down,” to do the same.
> >
> > After hearing about Luo’s tangping post on a Chinese
> > podcast, Zhang Xinmin, 36, was inspired to write a song
> > about it.
> >
> > Zhang, a musician based in Wuhan, had quit his job in adver-
> > tising five years ago to pursue his music, and the idea of
> > lying flat resonated with him. He called his song
> > “Tangping Is the Right Way.”
> >
> > Zhang uploaded the song to his social media platforms on
> > June 3, and within a day censors had deleted it from 3
> > websites. He was furious.
> >
> > “Nowadays, only running forward is allowed, but not lying
> > down,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that they
> > deleted this song.”
> >
> > He eventually uploaded the song as a video on YouTube,
> > which is blocked in China. The video shows him lying down
> > on his sofa, casually strumming his guitar as he sings in
> > a breezy voice:
> >
> > Lying down is really good
> > Lying down is wonderful
> > Lying down is the right thing to do
> > Lie down so you won’t fall anymore
> > Lying down means never falling down.
> >
> > https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/world/asia/china-slackers-tangping.html
> Funny.
>
> One can easily writes article with title like:
> These X [name of a country] millennials have constipation and Y [name of a capital] isn't happy.
> And with statements like "They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity [or whatever]
> narrative by refusing to participate in it. "
> If you want to discuss this kind of article, please lead the way.

"Spiros Bousbouras" wrote in message news:m4GXtZtrVQjpRpB=A@bongo-ra.co...
>
> I know who Leary is but I don't see what he has to do with my comment. You
> posted 4 youtube links but 2 were identical so I was curious whether you
> accidentally put in your post twice the same link.

It's because it contained two messages, one
of which you obviously haven't figured out...

On Wednesday, July 14, 2021 at 3:18:05 PM UTC-4, bmoore wrote:
> On Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 4:47:15 PM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:
> > On Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 2:07:13 PM UTC-4, David P. wrote:
> > > These Chinese Millennials Are ‘Chilling,’ and Beijing Isn’t Happy
> > > By Elsie Chen, 7/3/21, New York Times
> > >
> > > Five years ago, Luo Huazhong discovered that he enjoyed
> > > doing nothing. He quit his job as factory worker in China,
> > > biked 1,300 miles from Sichuan Province to Tibet & decided
> > > he could get by on odd jobs and $60/month from his savings.
> > > He called his new lifestyle “lying flat.”
> > >
> > > “I have been chilling,” Luo, 31, wrote in a blog post in
> > > April, describing his way of life. “I don’t feel like
> > > there’s anything wrong.”
> > >
> > > He titled his post “Lying Flat Is Justice,” attaching a
> > > photo of himself lying on his bed in a dark room with the
> > > curtains drawn. Before long, the post was being celebrated
> > > by Chinese millennials as an anti-consumerist manifesto.
> > > “Lying flat” went viral & has since become a broader
> > > statement about Chinese society.
> > >
> > > A generation ago, the route to success in China was to
> > > work hard, get married & have kids. The country’s authori-
> > > tarianism was seen as a fair trade-off as millions were
> > > lifted out of poverty. But with employees working longer
> > > hours & housing prices rising faster than incomes, many
> > > young Chinese fear they will be the first generation not
> > > to do better than their parents.
> > >
> > > They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity
> > > narrative by refusing to participate in it.
> > >
> > > Luo’s blog post was removed by censors, who saw it as an
> > > affront to Beijing’s economic ambitions. Mentions of
> > > “lying flat” — tangping, as it’s known in Mandarin — are
> > > heavily restricted on the Chinese internet. An official
> > > counternarrative has also emerged, encouraging young people
> > > to work hard for the sake of the country’s future.
> > >
> > > “After working for so long, I just felt numb, like a machine,”
> > > Luo said in an interview. “And so I resigned.”
> > >
> > > To lie flat means to forgo marriage, not have kids, stay
> > > unemployed and eschew material wants such as a house or a
> > > car. It is the opposite of what China’s leaders have asked
> > > of their people. But that didn’t bother Leon Ding.
> > >
> > > Ding, 22, has been lying flat for almost 3 months & thinks
> > > of the act as “silent resistance.” He dropped out of a
> > > university in his final year in March because he didn’t like
> > > the comp sci major his parents had chosen for him.
> > >
> > > After leaving school, Ding used his savings to rent a room
> > > in Shenzhen. He tried to find a regular office job but
> > > realized that most positions required him to work long hours.
> > > “I want a stable job that allows me to have my own time to
> > > relax, but where can I find it?” he said.
> > >
> > > Ding thinks young people should work hard for what they
> > > love, but not “996” — 9 am-9 pm, 6 days/week — as many
> > > employers in China expect. Frustrated with the job search,
> > > he decided that “lying flat” was the way to go.
> > >
> > > “To be honest, it feels really comfortable,” he said.
> > > “I don’t want to be too hard on myself.”
> > >
> > > To make ends meet, Ding gets paid to play video games &
> > > has minimized his spending by doing things like cutting
> > > out his favorite bubble tea. Asked about his long-term
> > > plans, he said: “Come back and ask me in six months.
> > > I only plan for six months.”
> > >
> > > While plenty of Chinese millennials continue to adhere to
> > > the country’s traditional work ethic, “lying flat” reflects
> > > both a nascent counterculture movement and a backlash
> > > against China’s hypercompetitive work environment.
> > >
> > > Xiang Biao, a prof of social anthropology at Oxford U. who
> > > focuses on Chinese society, called tangping culture a
> > > turning point for China. “Young people feel a kind of
> > > pressure that they can't explain and they feel that promises
> > > were broken,” he said. “People realize that material better-
> > > ment is no longer the single most important source of
> > > meaning in life.”
> > >
> > > The ruling Communist Party, wary of any form of social
> > > instability, has targeted the “lying flat” idea as a threat
> > > to stability in China. Censors have deleted a tangping group
> > > with more than 9,000 members on Douban, a popular internet
> > > forum. The authorities also barred posts on another
> > > tangping forum with more than 200,000 members.
> > >
> > > In May, China’s internet regulator ordered online platforms
> > > to “strictly restrict” new posts on tangping, acc. to a
> > > directive obtained by The NY Times. A 2nd directive required
> > > e-commerce platforms to stop selling clothes, phone cases
> > > and other merchandise branded with “tangping.”
> > >
> > > The state news media has called tangping “shameful,” and a
> > > newspaper warned against “lying flat before getting rich.”
> > > Yu Minhong, a prominent billionaire, urged young people not
> > > to lie down, because “otherwise who can we rely on for the
> > > future of our country?”
> > >
> > > Luo decided to write about tangping after he saw people
> > > heatedly discussing China’s latest census results in April
> > > & calls for the country to address a looming demographic
> > > crisis by having more babies.
> > >
> > > He described his original “lying flat” blog post as “an
> > > inner monologue from a man living at the bottom of the society.”
> > >
> > > “Those people who say lying down is shameful are shameless,”
> > > he said. “I have the right to choose a slow lifestyle.
> > > I didn’t do anything destructive to society. Do we have to
> > > work 12 hrs/day in a sweatshop, and is that justice?”
> > >
> > > Luo was born in rural Jiande County, in east Zhejiang
> > > Province. In 2007, he dropped out of a vocational high
> > > school and started working in factories. One job involved
> > > working 12-hr shifts at a tire factory. By the end of the day,
> > > he had blisters all over his feet, he said.
> > >
> > > In 2014, he found a job as a product inspector in a factory
> > > but didn’t like it. He quit after two years and took on the
> > > occasional acting gig to make ends meet. (In 2018, he played
> > > a corpse in a Chinese movie by, of course, lying flat.)
> > >
> > > Today, he lives with his family and spends his days reading
> > > philosophy & news & working out. He said it was an ideal
> > > lifestyle, allowing him to live minimally & “think & express
> > > freely.” He encourages his followers, who call him
> > > “the Master of Lying Down,” to do the same.
> > >
> > > After hearing about Luo’s tangping post on a Chinese
> > > podcast, Zhang Xinmin, 36, was inspired to write a song
> > > about it.
> > >
> > > Zhang, a musician based in Wuhan, had quit his job in adver-
> > > tising five years ago to pursue his music, and the idea of
> > > lying flat resonated with him. He called his song
> > > “Tangping Is the Right Way.”
> > >
> > > Zhang uploaded the song to his social media platforms on
> > > June 3, and within a day censors had deleted it from 3
> > > websites. He was furious.
> > >
> > > “Nowadays, only running forward is allowed, but not lying
> > > down,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that they
> > > deleted this song.”
> > >
> > > He eventually uploaded the song as a video on YouTube,
> > > which is blocked in China. The video shows him lying down
> > > on his sofa, casually strumming his guitar as he sings in
> > > a breezy voice:
> > >
> > > Lying down is really good
> > > Lying down is wonderful
> > > Lying down is the right thing to do
> > > Lie down so you won’t fall anymore
> > > Lying down means never falling down.
> > >
> > > https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/world/asia/china-slackers-tangping..html
> > Funny.
> >
> > One can easily writes article with title like:
> > These X [name of a country] millennials have constipation and Y [name of a capital] isn't happy.
> > And with statements like "They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity [or whatever]
> > narrative by refusing to participate in it. "
> > If you want to discuss this kind of article, please lead the way.
> Please provide another example that is as meaningful, and specify X and Y(X).

On Sunday, July 18, 2021 at 1:36:24 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
> On Wednesday, July 14, 2021 at 3:18:05 PM UTC-4, bmoore wrote:
> > On Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 4:47:15 PM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:
> > > On Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 2:07:13 PM UTC-4, David P. wrote:
> > > > These Chinese Millennials Are ‘Chilling,’ and Beijing Isn’t Happy
> > > > By Elsie Chen, 7/3/21, New York Times
> > > >
> > > > Five years ago, Luo Huazhong discovered that he enjoyed
> > > > doing nothing. He quit his job as factory worker in China,
> > > > biked 1,300 miles from Sichuan Province to Tibet & decided
> > > > he could get by on odd jobs and $60/month from his savings.
> > > > He called his new lifestyle “lying flat.”
> > > >
> > > > “I have been chilling,” Luo, 31, wrote in a blog post in
> > > > April, describing his way of life. “I don’t feel like
> > > > there’s anything wrong.”
> > > >
> > > > He titled his post “Lying Flat Is Justice,” attaching a
> > > > photo of himself lying on his bed in a dark room with the
> > > > curtains drawn. Before long, the post was being celebrated
> > > > by Chinese millennials as an anti-consumerist manifesto.
> > > > “Lying flat” went viral & has since become a broader
> > > > statement about Chinese society.
> > > >
> > > > A generation ago, the route to success in China was to
> > > > work hard, get married & have kids. The country’s authori-
> > > > tarianism was seen as a fair trade-off as millions were
> > > > lifted out of poverty. But with employees working longer
> > > > hours & housing prices rising faster than incomes, many
> > > > young Chinese fear they will be the first generation not
> > > > to do better than their parents.
> > > >
> > > > They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity
> > > > narrative by refusing to participate in it.
> > > >
> > > > Luo’s blog post was removed by censors, who saw it as an
> > > > affront to Beijing’s economic ambitions. Mentions of
> > > > “lying flat” — tangping, as it’s known in Mandarin — are
> > > > heavily restricted on the Chinese internet. An official
> > > > counternarrative has also emerged, encouraging young people
> > > > to work hard for the sake of the country’s future.
> > > >
> > > > “After working for so long, I just felt numb, like a machine,”
> > > > Luo said in an interview. “And so I resigned.”
> > > >
> > > > To lie flat means to forgo marriage, not have kids, stay
> > > > unemployed and eschew material wants such as a house or a
> > > > car. It is the opposite of what China’s leaders have asked
> > > > of their people. But that didn’t bother Leon Ding.
> > > >
> > > > Ding, 22, has been lying flat for almost 3 months & thinks
> > > > of the act as “silent resistance.” He dropped out of a
> > > > university in his final year in March because he didn’t like
> > > > the comp sci major his parents had chosen for him.
> > > >
> > > > After leaving school, Ding used his savings to rent a room
> > > > in Shenzhen. He tried to find a regular office job but
> > > > realized that most positions required him to work long hours.
> > > > “I want a stable job that allows me to have my own time to
> > > > relax, but where can I find it?” he said.
> > > >
> > > > Ding thinks young people should work hard for what they
> > > > love, but not “996” — 9 am-9 pm, 6 days/week — as many
> > > > employers in China expect. Frustrated with the job search,
> > > > he decided that “lying flat” was the way to go.
> > > >
> > > > “To be honest, it feels really comfortable,” he said.
> > > > “I don’t want to be too hard on myself.”
> > > >
> > > > To make ends meet, Ding gets paid to play video games &
> > > > has minimized his spending by doing things like cutting
> > > > out his favorite bubble tea. Asked about his long-term
> > > > plans, he said: “Come back and ask me in six months.
> > > > I only plan for six months.”
> > > >
> > > > While plenty of Chinese millennials continue to adhere to
> > > > the country’s traditional work ethic, “lying flat” reflects
> > > > both a nascent counterculture movement and a backlash
> > > > against China’s hypercompetitive work environment.
> > > >
> > > > Xiang Biao, a prof of social anthropology at Oxford U. who
> > > > focuses on Chinese society, called tangping culture a
> > > > turning point for China. “Young people feel a kind of
> > > > pressure that they can't explain and they feel that promises
> > > > were broken,” he said. “People realize that material better-
> > > > ment is no longer the single most important source of
> > > > meaning in life.”
> > > >
> > > > The ruling Communist Party, wary of any form of social
> > > > instability, has targeted the “lying flat” idea as a threat
> > > > to stability in China. Censors have deleted a tangping group
> > > > with more than 9,000 members on Douban, a popular internet
> > > > forum. The authorities also barred posts on another
> > > > tangping forum with more than 200,000 members.
> > > >
> > > > In May, China’s internet regulator ordered online platforms
> > > > to “strictly restrict” new posts on tangping, acc. to a
> > > > directive obtained by The NY Times. A 2nd directive required
> > > > e-commerce platforms to stop selling clothes, phone cases
> > > > and other merchandise branded with “tangping.”
> > > >
> > > > The state news media has called tangping “shameful,” and a
> > > > newspaper warned against “lying flat before getting rich.”
> > > > Yu Minhong, a prominent billionaire, urged young people not
> > > > to lie down, because “otherwise who can we rely on for the
> > > > future of our country?”
> > > >
> > > > Luo decided to write about tangping after he saw people
> > > > heatedly discussing China’s latest census results in April
> > > > & calls for the country to address a looming demographic
> > > > crisis by having more babies.
> > > >
> > > > He described his original “lying flat” blog post as “an
> > > > inner monologue from a man living at the bottom of the society.”
> > > >
> > > > “Those people who say lying down is shameful are shameless,”
> > > > he said. “I have the right to choose a slow lifestyle.
> > > > I didn’t do anything destructive to society. Do we have to
> > > > work 12 hrs/day in a sweatshop, and is that justice?”
> > > >
> > > > Luo was born in rural Jiande County, in east Zhejiang
> > > > Province. In 2007, he dropped out of a vocational high
> > > > school and started working in factories. One job involved
> > > > working 12-hr shifts at a tire factory. By the end of the day,
> > > > he had blisters all over his feet, he said.
> > > >
> > > > In 2014, he found a job as a product inspector in a factory
> > > > but didn’t like it. He quit after two years and took on the
> > > > occasional acting gig to make ends meet. (In 2018, he played
> > > > a corpse in a Chinese movie by, of course, lying flat.)
> > > >
> > > > Today, he lives with his family and spends his days reading
> > > > philosophy & news & working out. He said it was an ideal
> > > > lifestyle, allowing him to live minimally & “think & express
> > > > freely.” He encourages his followers, who call him
> > > > “the Master of Lying Down,” to do the same.
> > > >
> > > > After hearing about Luo’s tangping post on a Chinese
> > > > podcast, Zhang Xinmin, 36, was inspired to write a song
> > > > about it.
> > > >
> > > > Zhang, a musician based in Wuhan, had quit his job in adver-
> > > > tising five years ago to pursue his music, and the idea of
> > > > lying flat resonated with him. He called his song
> > > > “Tangping Is the Right Way.”
> > > >
> > > > Zhang uploaded the song to his social media platforms on
> > > > June 3, and within a day censors had deleted it from 3
> > > > websites. He was furious.
> > > >
> > > > “Nowadays, only running forward is allowed, but not lying
> > > > down,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that they
> > > > deleted this song.”
> > > >
> > > > He eventually uploaded the song as a video on YouTube,
> > > > which is blocked in China. The video shows him lying down
> > > > on his sofa, casually strumming his guitar as he sings in
> > > > a breezy voice:
> > > >
> > > > Lying down is really good
> > > > Lying down is wonderful
> > > > Lying down is the right thing to do
> > > > Lie down so you won’t fall anymore
> > > > Lying down means never falling down.
> > > >
> > > > https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/world/asia/china-slackers-tangping.html
> > > Funny.
> > >
> > > One can easily writes article with title like:
> > > These X [name of a country] millennials have constipation and Y [name of a capital] isn't happy.
> > > And with statements like "They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity [or whatever]
> > > narrative by refusing to participate in it. "
> > > If you want to discuss this kind of article, please lead the way.
> > Please provide another example that is as meaningful, and specify X and Y(X).
> Please learn some Chinese.
> A lot of writing advising people don't study, don't work too hard.
> Emptiness is emptiness. Nothing new.
>
> Even for grade school students. The following originated from modern day Taiwan.
> ”春天不是读书天，夏日炎炎正好眠；秋有蚊虫冬有雪，收拾书本好过年“
>
Internet translation: "Spring is not a day for reading, summer heats just to sleep; there are mosquitoes in autumn and snow in winter, so you can pack your books for the New Year."