Young Chinese are rebelling against society through a simple act of resistance: lying down. Examples of the tangping, or “lying flat”, way of life     1     (include) not getting married, not having children, and refusing to work extra hours or to hold a job at all. “I stay at home and sleep and watch television series.Sometimes I go out for walks, read books and just think a lot,” said Daisy Zhang, 28, who described herself as “lying flat” for the last two weeks     2     leaving her job in the film industry in Wuxi.

Tangping     3    (emerge)over the last few months as the rallying call of Chinese millennials who have had enough of the rat race. Some compare them to the 1950s Beat Generation in the United States.     4     call their behavior a form of nonviolent resistance or “ideological emancipation” from consumerism. Supporters portray it as a rejection of struggle and endless striving. Critics say it is defeatist.

“People realize there is no upward mobility,” said Yicheng Wang, a PhD student in political science at Boston University,     5    studies propaganda and popular discourse. It’s a negative acceptance: “My life is like this. It will always be like this.”

The term developed after an April post on the Tieba forum where the author, unemployed for the last two years, described a low-effort, low-cost lifestyle that consisted of working just a few months out of the year.

“Lying flat is my sophistic movement,” he wrote, referring to the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who was known for living in a barrel. He posted a picture of himself lying in bed in the middle of the day with the curtains     6     (draw).

In the following weeks, a “lying flat” group on the online forum Douban surged to 9,000 members. Internet users identified themselves as “lying flatists”,     7     (post) photos of cats and seals lying supine.

But     8     tangping gained popularity, it also drew a level of opprobrium. Nanfang Daily called the philosophy “shameful”. Global Times made light of it describing “lying flat” as “not a serious philosophy”. The Youth League pointed out that young medical workers on the front lines during the pandemic “never chose to lie down.”

For Zhang in Wuxi, lying flat is not about giving up or withdrawing from society. “Many people want to lie down because 996 is too tiring,” she said, referring to the notorious hours common in tech industry,     9     staff are expected to work from 9a.m. to 9p.m, six days a week. The philosophy is also about giving oneself a break. On Douban, new groups have emerged that support “lying down and then standing up.” Zhang，who is thinking about getting into media, says she has started sending out resumes.

“I’m interviewing for jobs while writing a little and looking for direction,     10     nothing too active,” she said. “It’s better than doing nothing.”