Every generation in modern China has been richer and more ambitious than the one before—until Gen Z. With youth unemployment so high that the government has simply stopped reporting the figures, many are opting to lie flat, slump down dead, or even become full-time children. The Party frets that despite the best efforts of the propaganda organs to get them excited about a tech-driven utopian future, China’s young people seem to have lost their work ethic. Louisa and Graeme are joined by Steven Sun Zhao, a Gen Z writer at Chaoyang Trap and Yaling Jiang, a proud millennial and the founder of Aperture China.

A full transcript is available at https://www.thechinastory.org/lrp/full-time-children-or-half-dead-chinas-gen-z-goes-to-ground/

Image: Woman in black jacket sitting on blue chair, c/- 绵 绵 on Unsplash