tiny lemmy 

China's unemployed Gen Z are proudly calling themselves 'rat people' and spending entire days in bed

c/world · u/gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de · 532 points

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Instead of even trying to chase jobs that seem out of reach, Gen Z is embracing living like a rat—not showering or leaving the house for days at a time.

The millennial era of “work hard, play harder” and “girl bossing” has given way to a new trend. In China, at least, Gen Zers are proudly calling themselves “rat people”—they’re spending entire days procrastinating in bed, scrolling on their phones, snoozing and ordering take out.

I think it has something to do with "giving up" on the economy: if you have very low chances of landing a job anyways, why even try?

The article does not directly tell us how many people participate in this movement consciously. It does hint, however:

Today, over 4 million American Gen Zers remain jobless. In China, the government has said that as of February, 1 in 6 young people are unemployed.

Comments

u/gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 points

thank you, i have been saying the same thing :D

Only when the machine stops can we finally take it apart and fix all its problems

That is what meditation is. Deliberately pausing for a while, to fix your internal problems.

u/pm_me_anime_thighs@lemmynsfw.com · 4 points

Only when the machine stops can we finally take it apart and fix all its problems. (I dont entirely know what this means I just wanted to say something profound-sounding)

u/gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 points

To tell another story, workers are like kindle of the great furnace of the industrial-capitalist complex, and to stay at home is to take away the fuel from the machine.

u/HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com · 9 points

Sorry to hear you lost your job. Hoping the best for you, internet stranger!

I agree that tying healthcare to one's job is totally fucked up. Everyone should get healthcare, period. A less than 40 hour work week, and a ubi would be nice too.

u/Bababasti@feddit.org · 32 points

You have more in common with a Chinese or Russian worker than any billionaire.

u/KelvarIW@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 14 points

Remember when the USA banned TikTok and all the USA users flocked to RedNote? USAmericans were shocked that, contrary to their propaganda, Chinese life was just like theirs (but with healthcare); and Chinese users were shocked the USA life *wasn't* propaganda.

u/commander@lemmy.world · 7 points

Americans shouldn't be looking at other countries to feel better about themselves regardless. They should be letting themselves feel bad so that they actually maintain some energy levels to fight for their own rights domestically instead of contributing to the constant stream of jingoism that has been American media since inception. Decades living and its a cycle of next enemy while economic disparity just keeps widening but people are pacifying themselves with the next enemy

u/shikitohno@lemm.ee · 2 points

I would imagine it reads rather differently to different people. Rich guys reading Forbes probably think it's a great dunk on China. Meanwhile, I'm reading it thinking, "Shit, I could get behind this. Just wish I lived somewhere that it didn't mean I would be homeless in less than a year if I tried it."

u/Googledotcom@lemm.ee · 1 points

Ehh it’s just your projection, people aren’t okay all over the world because of global downturn

There’s no bragging, just journalism. I am from Poland btw and here and in eu all gen z have similar tendencies. Worse in USA and China probably but it is a global trend

u/BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world · 11 points

How dare they speak against capitalism! Only people as smart and cool as us know the Truth™️

u/UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 0 points

*removed*, you live in Alsace. You are a peasant. You need to give your fuckin' lord the grain. Your fucking children, you've had 15 children. You've never taken a bath. You've literally never. washed. your. penis. You've never used toilet paper. Motherfucker, you have worms. You are dying. You've had 40 children, 3 of them are alive. 2 of them are child soldiers in the Duke's army.

*removed*, the greatest thing you can hope for is to die at the old age of 36. You fucking can't read. You don't know what TV is. If you were transported into today, you would be the worst gamer of all time. You don't know shit. You literally probably don't even know what the direction 'left' is. I'm sure some Medieval guy is gonna get mad at me for this, *removed* I've been to the Renaissance Fair. I've eaten a large turkey wing, which the Juggalos call '*removed* beaters', which I think is problematic but a funny thing to call them.

Motherfucker, you gotta recognize where you are, and then you gotta get passed that. You gotta be unemotional. You can't sink into this hole. You live in the oubliette. Your job is to crawl up the ladder, motherfucker. You live in the HOLE. You're in the HOLE. You are a RAT. And the rat, when he's in the hole gets fucked. People only throw trash in the hole.

You need to eat a body. And you need to carry the plague. And you need to carry a plague around this whole world, that will change this whole fuckin world. And all your enemies will vomit black bile and will choke on blood and will grow boils and die. But only if you get together with your other RATS. And you come up with some kind of super plague, to fuckin end your enemies and...

End. This. Nightmare.

u/Fingolfinz@lemmy.world · 5 points

If you have the means, I highly suggest it. I put it off for longer than I should have and finally got on medication and the difference has been night and day in quality of life, I experience a lot more clarity in my thought process. It’s definitely worth looking into if you think you may be struggling with depression. And it won’t disrupt the hatred of capitalism, I promise. It’s only helped me become a more clear headed anarchist

u/Fingolfinz@lemmy.world · 4 points

The environment doesn’t help whatsoever and capitalism absolutely breeds this but it’s not the sole cause. Depression is still a disorder that needs to be treated and would still exist even without this hostile environment we live in

u/Fingolfinz@lemmy.world · 32 points

Yeah wtf is that? I’m a fucking burnout who is so lazy my hair is just a matted mess and has been for like a month

u/GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world · 23 points

Ah, yes, the rhetoric 'grind culture' disguising working three jobs just to eat and sleep in conditions that are semi-humane. But being scolded and scorned for never being able to buy a house because we like avocado toast. Working so hard, but never working enough in the same breath.

It was never about the fucking toast. 'Goblin mode' and 'adulting' and 'gamer shut-in' and 'NEET' was never about being lazy. It was always about painting out the propaganda to guilt us into not meeting the model of expectation instead of our elders accepting blame. Maybe, hear me out, they should open their eyes and see that we're living in a level of poverty so hilariously deep that not even our kids--Gen Z and Gen Alpha--will be able to dig it out.

They're not giving up because they're lazy. They're opting out of a system designed to fail.

u/conicalscientist@lemmy.world · 11 points

15 years ago millennials were cast in the generic framework of lazy younger generation. Now we have hindsight for them to be able to observe what actually happened. Millennials absolutely became a workaholic play hard generation.

u/LePoisson@lemmy.world · 11 points

Maybe Chinese millennials are more hard working ~~cooler~~ than us American ones?

u/Baggie@lemmy.zip · 4 points

Man I remember when I was allowed to work hard, now robots get all the jobs and I'm stuck. It's really weird.

u/drmoose@lemmy.world · 1 points

I do agree that activism is required here and it maybe China is really stuck at progressing here as activism is basically illegal. The one case of animals activism that I know (posted in another comment) is zoo employees rising up against awful zoo conditions and animal torture and anti shark fin soup lead by Yao Ming and some other pop stars.

Animal activism just doesn't really exist in China and it really might be the only way to progress this medium.

I'm honestly quite disappointed in Buddhism here. Chinese follow Mahayana branch of Buddhism (same as Japan, Vietnam etc.) Which aims to "help all beings to achieve buddhism" and yet animal rights are non existant and they perform all these rituals of releasing a fish or smt but never do any real action. Just shows how deeply rooted this issue is.

u/drmoose@lemmy.world · 1 points

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

In 2014, China received an E out of possible grades A, B, C, D, E, F, G on World Animal Protection's Animal Protection Index

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_fin_soup

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

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

Etc. Etc.

That being said, I do think Chinese government is at least trying to drag the culture into reality.

The panda zoos were meant to spearhead the change in animal perception but it didn't really trickle down to other animals and is widely considered to be a failure in that regard. Though there's a big law proposition right now but it's **stuck since 2009**:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_protection_law_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

So China is still good 50 years behind the developed world when it comes to animal respect if not more.

u/JasonDJ@lemmy.zip · 1 points

Chinese treatment of animals is beyond anything else I've ever seen.

I agree with you...but do you really think America or most of the West would be much better if not for modern animal rights activists?

Modern industrial society has such a wild disconnect from its food, and I don't think most people would care if not for the likes of PETA et al always bringing to the front of their attention.

Myself and my kids are ovo-/lacto- vegetarian. My wife is full blown vegan. We raise a small flock of chickens for eggs and my oldest (2nd grade) loves our hens like members of the family.

You know how some of the kids bully him? By saying they'll come to our house and eat our chickens. I think even a second-grader would know not to say that about a dog...but a chicken? Not even a thought. Even his therapist wasn't disturbed by that until I told her that the chickens are treated more like pets than livestock.

And they should be treated better. They are beautiful, diverse creatures with their own social rules and personalities. You haven't lived till you've gotten stoned and hung out with a flock of hens for a few hours.

u/UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · -2 points

Chinese treatment of animals is beyond anything else I’ve ever seen.

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

Oh, the inhumanity

u/drmoose@lemmy.world · 1 points

Nah Chinese culture is very well known for this. Have you been living under a rock?

Chinese treatment of animals is beyond anything else I've ever seen. There's just fundamental lack of education and respect for non-human creatures. It's trully something else and I'm not being xenophobic here as it's an objective truth.

Even for a country with strong Buddhist and taoist it's almost impossible to find vegetarian food unless you go to "sùshí restaurants (special vegetarian restaurants near temples) and outside if that you'll get straight up mocked for eating vegan.

Seriously, my least favorite thing about China. Even worse than whole censorship thing. It's just so incredibly disrespectful to our fellow creatures to the point where it feels intentionally cruel.

u/UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · -1 points

"Americans hate cows because they don't understand them, as evidenced by this foreign language article that compares Americans to cows"

u/drmoose@lemmy.world · 0 points

If anything the zodiac contributes to misunderstanding of animals. It's like saying in the west we understand the buffalo because we have Taurus as a horoscope.

u/archonet@lemy.lol · 7 points

the only thing that stops me from getting rats is the short lifespans. I love dogs, and ~10 years is already too short. Dealing with that every two would just break me.

u/Saleh@feddit.org · 5 points

One of the animals in the Chinese year is the rat. I don't think that there is a "satirical level of disrespect" if the animal is that important.

u/SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 points

Rats are the best. Little pocket puppies

/r/rats is the reason I'm still on Reddit

The pet rats community here is far too quiet

u/drmoose@lemmy.world · 26 points

Chinese culture has almost satirical levels of disrespect and misunderstanding of animals so it's very much on character.

I used to have 3 rescue rats and they are incredibly clean, active and social animals. I'd used to take them outside and observe how they explore new areas and its was really incredible how coordinated and thought out their exploration plans would be and executed with utter most curiosity. Also very cute how they'd come back to me and ask to be taken home to their cage by basically hugging my foot.

u/Jimmycakes@lemmy.world · -11 points

Are they? I thought they piss and shit poison and eat their babies for food. Are you thinking of mice?

u/KelvarIW@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 points

Plus whatever you do now in the USA economy isn't going to matter. I still have hope for a revolution, but whether it succeeds or fails, we will not be living in the late-capitalist system we grew up in. Either the revolution fails and we live in a fascist hell-hole (as the Chinese and Russians already do) or we win and have to focus on Reconstruction. A Bachelor's in Communications and a $40K/yr office position doesn't matter when the Republicans declare Martial Law.

u/GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world · 5 points

Sad to be in the US, too. Honestly, this feels too relatable. The system is rigged against us, and people who were in power before we were even born pulled up the ladder behind them.

u/gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 points

Right on the cusp myself but my parents are boomers and I'm not the only person my age that's true of

u/psx_crab@lemmy.zip · 11 points

Bingo. Gen Z is still a young adult by definition so the parent's hope is they might land a job somehow. China is a fast moving economy and it's ultra competitive, some people would be inevitably left out.

u/KelvarIW@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 points

China has social services. Even in the USA there is Social Security, food stamps, unemployment benefits. China has those too (though under different laws), plus healthcare (plus others probably). I know in the USA we've been conditioned by propaganda to see ourselves as undeserving of even the most basic necessities, and so we presume that dictatorships like China would never give anything to its people. Just because the CCP doesn't allow citizens to criticize the government and Disappears people with no accountability, doesn't mean they *Must* let their future workers starve because they don't have money.

u/skisnow@lemmy.ca · 8 points

Congrats to the Wikipedia contributor who managed to get “shitposter” into a sentence without it being removed

u/otp@sh.itjust.works · 3 points

Whoops, that went over my head. My bad. I don't know if you can blame me given your server though! Haha

u/UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · -1 points

Certain people are very reflexively against the idea that someone in a foreign country might have a baseline quality of life that's higher than their own.

u/drspod@lemmy.ml · 18 points

Not everyone from .ml is a tankie. I was trying to make a joke.

u/otp@sh.itjust.works · 16 points

That's not the right answer. You'd think someone from lemmy.ml would know a bit more about this topic...

u/GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world · 5 points

Ditto this. This isn't the hard-hitting smear they think it is, it's a cry for help. They're suffering the same symptoms of a collapsing society that we are. That's not demeaning, it makes me sympathize with these kids even more.

u/tal@lemmy.today · 18 points

If it is, staying in a dark house and not exercising is definitely not what one wants to do.

u/taladar@sh.itjust.works · 14 points

Most definitions I find define Gen Z as early 2010s or 2012 as the end year which would make plenty of them underage still.

u/taladar@sh.itjust.works · 15 points

Are those 69 million all adults/working age already?

For full context it might also be useful to see the unemployment rates in other age groups in both countries.

u/skisnow@lemmy.ca · 131 points

The millennial era of “work hard, play harder”

I hate to be that guy that calls everything Orwellian, but this is NOT how Fortune was describing Millenials 15 years ago

u/givesomefucks@lemmy.world · 68 points

>Today, over 4 million American Gen Zers remain jobless. In China, the government has said that as of February, 1 in 6 young people are unemployed.

I hate mixed comparisons...

There's about 69 million (nice) Gen Z in America.

So America = 5.7%

China = 16.6%

u/Chocrates@lemmy.world · 56 points

I'm sorry, but Millennials or Genz did not invent quiet quitting. The media made it up to describe just doing your damn job

u/JasonDJ@lemmy.zip · 52 points

Aren't rats notable for their hygiene and social skills? Seems like a poor comparison.

u/rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee · 40 points

I can get behind this. Overthrow your country's oppressive working conditions by simply refusing to engage and proudly calling yourself a rat. Everyone in capitalist hellscapes should do that.

u/who@feddit.org · 29 points

Related: Goblin Mode

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_mode

https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2022/

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/goblin-mode

u/Kowowow@lemmy.ca · 25 points

Isn't there the japanese thing "lay flat" where it's just about surviving and not excelling in life

u/the_q@lemm.ee · 23 points

If only all the rats of the world combined into an unruly rat king... Then things would change.

u/BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world · 21 points

I'm doing the same thing in the US after getting laid off, have no energy or motivation to apply for jobs or prep for interview. I'm kinda depressed about this situation but also kinda happy to have the freedom to actually rest and breath again, for a first world country the American work system is draconic, and tying Healthcare access to a job is just inhumane

u/2ugly2live@lemmy.world · 21 points

Wasn't there also the "lie flat" trend? It's not just Gen Z who are calling uncle. If I had the means, I'd join them.

u/HyalineCat@lemm.ee · 18 points

I would too if I didn't have to work full time for affordable health care *pouts*

u/answersplease77@lemmy.world · 18 points

how can you afford staying in bed scrolling on phone and ordering takeouts? rent, electric, phone, gas bills? is it because their boomer parents have one child and pay everything for them even when they grow up?

u/UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 16 points

A sudden seemingly coordinated wave of "China is horrible" stories, just as the courts start striking down Trump's 145% tariffs.

Crazy coincidental.

u/demunted@lemmy.ml · 15 points

The whole gig economy / hustle culture was deliberately abused by companies treating people like consultants except with low wages and certainly zero benefits. People are taking all the downside and businesses are completely covered from any liability. It has to end somewhere.

u/Baguette@lemm.ee · 13 points

Rat people unite

![](https://media1.tenor.com/m/QSXs5_8m8ckAAAAd/twitch-leauge-of-legends.gif)

u/Googledotcom@lemm.ee · 11 points

The greatest tragedy of 21 century is masses of pacified people who farm karma and validity online in some circlejerks to feel dopamine hits from moral superiority.

It’s the real brain drain of today.

When they give up, the Machiavellists who were countered by brave people in the past come in full force.

I ask you… no I beg you. Use the internet to enhance communication, not just as an escape. We cannot afford to run from the problems any longer

u/network_switch@lemmy.ml · 7 points

I always find these articles being so popular in western social media weird and subtly braggy. It's like the Lyndon Johnson quote about about making white feel better than black people so you can rob them of whatever. Such a distraction that makes people feel like we're better than them/at least we're not them. Yet pretty much every trend I've seen about Chinese ennui was at the time true of Americans and western Europeans just articles being written about the ennui would not be mainstream for a couple more years. Like minimalism during the financial crisis or recently quiet-quitting in the US were celebrated in US social media as great workers movements that are positive social movements and a sign of cultural strength while lying flat in China in US social media is a sign of societal decline. Whatever either is, it's the same shit. It's always weird exoticism to me. You don't get popular articles about youth expectations about young people in Romania or Greece

u/applemao@lemmy.world · 3 points

I mean if I lived in China I'd give up too, or worse. Seems very sad to be there

u/Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub · -4 points

Careful, I hear ml and hexbear users gearing up anticapitalist rhetoric to one up you with. I see the fedoras and neckbeards in the distance