Why Are China’s Young People Fed Up?

Economics

May 21, 2026

Yi Fuxian

Decades of misguided economic policymaking have left China in a demographic hole that it seems incapable of climbing out of. As the “world’s factory,” the country is churning out everything except the people whom it will need to sustain its economic development and social stability over the long term.

MADISON—For several years now, a significant share of young Chinese people, disillusioned with their economic prospects, have embraced “lying flat,” a principled rejection of careerist competition (the proverbial “rat race”). Since such attitudes do not bode well for the country’s economic future, Chinese authorities have responded by portraying the movement as a foreign-backed effort to undermine national development and morale.