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🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

Youth's Question: 'Tang Ping' and 'Break' Reflecting Disillusionment

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Analysis Sources not specified Context piece
  • The article contrasts China's "tang ping" (lying flat) movement with South Korea's "youth on break" phenomenon, both reflecting youth disillusionment with traditional success formulas.
  • Both Chinese and Korean youth are questioning the diminishing returns of hard work in increasingly competitive and uncertain job markets.
  • The piece argues that as national competitiveness discourse grows, many young people are returning to fundamental questions about finding "normal work" that offers stability, respect, and a life balance.

While South Korea's KBS documentary "Talent War" highlights China's intense focus on cultivating elite technological talent, a different narrative is unfolding within China itself: the resurgence of "tang ping," or "lying flat." This trend, recently cautioned against by the Ministry of State Security as a form of "foreign anti-China brainwashing," reflects a growing weariness among Chinese youth. Simultaneously, South Korea grapples with its own version of this sentiment, marked by a rise in "youth on break", those not actively seeking employment.

Tang ping is not just about laziness or lack of motivation. What Chinese youth are looking for today is not grand success, but 'normal work' where various conditions are relatively balanced.

— Chinese magazine Sanlian Life WeeklyDefining the meaning behind the 'tang ping' movement.

For decades, both China and South Korea shared a similar success narrative: study hard, overcome competition, secure a good job, and achieve stability. Rapid economic growth fueled this in China, while industrialization and educational expansion did so in South Korea. However, this formula is now faltering in both nations. "Tang ping" is not simply about laziness; it signifies a search for "normal work", jobs offering a basic level of security and fairness, which is becoming increasingly scarce.

The authorities' crackdown on tang ping is criticized by some as a problem created by an unfair or uncertain youth labor market structure.

— Article analysisExplaining the socio-economic context of 'tang ping'.

Critics of China's crackdown on "tang ping" argue that it stems from an unfair and uncertain labor market. Even lowering expectations for a "good job" doesn't guarantee employment, as the reality is that such opportunities are dwindling. This situation mirrors the challenges faced by South Korean youth, who, analysts suggest, are not outright rejecting work but have lost the motivation for sustained competition due to high entry barriers and the exhaustion of prolonged striving.

The common question connecting these phenomena is clear: How do young people react when the intensity of competition increases, 'normal work' becomes increasingly scarce, and the connection of 'reward according to effort' is no longer as clear as before?

— Article analysisIdentifying the core question facing youth in both countries.

The common question linking these phenomena is how young people respond when competition intensifies, "normal work" becomes rarer, and the connection between effort and reward is no longer clear. As national competitiveness and elite talent development take center stage, many young individuals are returning to basic questions: Is it possible to find "normal work" that is sustainable, respectful, and allows for a balanced life, even if it's not a "dream job"? Young people in both China and South Korea seem to be posing similar questions to their societies, albeit in different languages.

Perhaps the commonality of young people in Korea and China today lies here.

— Article analysisSuggesting a shared experience between Korean and Chinese youth.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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