They are called the “rat people”.
The sentence has become the latest viral trend among the Chinese unemployed The millennials and Gen Zs, which now proudly say that they spend whole days in bed, surf on the internet and eat take -out dishes.
It is an extreme version of the “flat” counter-culture movement of young people popularized when they rebelled against the weeks of exhausting work of 72 hours and the technological culture “996” which saw employees working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week.
“I refuse to be ashamed of being a person with charge, I defend the name of the people of the rat,” said a young woman in a montage of what she calls her 83rd day lounging in her room. She shared video editing on Rednote, an application of popular Chinese photos among women.
“After three years of hard work, I finally had my parents realized that holding a job did not build me in wealth,” she adds.
The counter-culture burned in China
The lie has seen different iterations over the years. The movement included young adults saying that they had abandoned in “letting it rot”. Others have resigned themselves to living as “full -time children” who emanate from their parents.
After the pandemic, the recumbently became so important on social networks that it stimulated the alarm in Beijing while the central government was trying to invigorate its devastated economy.
But being one of the “rat peoples” is more than lying flat or abandoning.
“Going flat was:” I might not do anything, not working from 9 to 5, but I always do things that I like “” Ophenia Liang, the Digital Digital Crew, a marketing agency that focuses on Asia, told Business Insider.
“The people of the rats want to be exactly the opposite of the rest of the self-enemy and glamorous internet that goes to the gymnasium,” she said.
Many “rat” messages are, in a sense, the antithesis of influence routines that could be found on Instagram or Tiktok, or, if you are in China, Weibo and Rednote.
The trend is the trend of this low energy lifestyle. The “people rats” are supposed to be satisfied as a clumsy.
American Instagram features like Ashton Hall waking up at 4 am for a race. The young “people people” on Rednote, on the other hand, savor the publication of videos of “daily calendar” of bed in bed at 4 pm and of scrolling on the condemnation on the iPads.
A change of generational fortune
Attitude is a motivator who stimulates the trend of the “rats people”; Affordability is another.
Millennials and generation Z are the first generations in China who can afford to stay unemployment and survive, said Liang.
“Many of their parents were born in the 1960s and 70s and benefited from China’s economic growth, so they have savings,” said Liang.
“This is the first economic slowdown that these young people had in China,” she added. “They are not as resilient as people born in the 60s or 70s. So, some of them offer this feeling:” Why try so hard? “”
Liang has warned that many popular “people” programs “on Weibo and Rednote programs are probably exaggerated by influence drivers trying to become viral. But their success implies a broader feeling in the country.
“This responds to the thoughts of some people because you could look at other people of your very disciplined age, and you feel guilty,” she said. “Having these” rats “like the other extreme, you feel less guilty.”
A by-product of the slowed economy of China
Battered economy of China and The competitive professional environment has left many of its young discouraged.
Average Chinese Chinese today are facing a more difficult and more demanding labor market than their parents.
Last month, China’s urban unemployment rate for those between 16 and 24 years old was 16.5%. The country briefly ceased to report its unemployment rate of young people after reaching a record of 21.3% in the second quarter of 2023.
The National Bureau of Chinese Statistics started to publish statistics in January 2024 after changing its methodology to exclude students.
But the problems do not necessarily do it Even finish for those who get a job. The exhausting technological culture of China “996” has fueled the expectations for people to observe a punitive work schedule.
This feeling of disenchantment led to the rise of the flat movement lying in 2021, which favored the constant rejection of competition in favor of a more relaxed minimalist lifestyle.
Eric Fu, principal researcher at the research collective for young people from the University of Melbourne, told Bi that the rise in self -moving social media trends as being a “rat person” or “lying flat” is not necessarily a bad thing – it is an evolution in the way the people of the country see work.
“It shows that people are starting to really take into account the work they really want to do and the meaning of their lives. It also shows that Chinese society has become more diverse in a sense,” said FU.
Fu said it was easy to misunderstand where these young Chinese people come from when they praise the virtues of the “rat person”.
“This group of people is always, to a certain extent, a privileged group. They have the luxury of doing so, but that does not mean that they just want to lose their lives,” he said. “They probably take a little time.”
“It will be really naive to assume that these people just want to live like that forever,” he added.
businessinsider
