5d ago

China's unemployed Gen Z are proudly calling themselves 'rat people' and spending entire days in bed

Instead of even trying to chase jobs that seem out of reach, Gen Z is embracing living like a rat—not showering or leaving the house for days at a time.

The millennial era of “work hard, play harder” and “girl bossing” has given way to a new trend. In China, at least, Gen Zers are proudly calling themselves “rat people”—they’re spending entire days procrastinating in bed, scrolling on their phones, snoozing and ordering take out.

I think it has something to do with "giving up" on the economy: if you have very low chances of landing a job anyways, why even try?

The article does not directly tell us how many people participate in this movement consciously. It does hint, however:

Today, over 4 million American Gen Zers remain jobless. In China, the government has said that as of February, 1 in 6 young people are unemployed.

Femcel Memes @lemmy.blahaj.zone

gandalf_der_12te @lemmy.blahaj.zone

5d ago

China's unemployed Gen Z are proudly calling themselves 'rat people' and spending entire days in bed

fortune.com /2025/05/11/unemployed-gen-z-rat-people-china-spending-entire-days-in-bed-doom-scrolling-global-issue/

111 comments

Hard not to sympathize. World is fucked.
- Solidarity with rats worldwide

The millennial era of “work hard, play harder”
I hate to be that guy that calls everything Orwellian, but this is NOT how Fortune was describing Millenials 15 years ago
- Yeah wtf is that? I’m a fucking burnout who is so lazy my hair is just a matted mess and has been for like a month
- Ah, yes, the rhetoric 'grind culture' disguising working three jobs just to eat and sleep in conditions that are semi-humane. But being scolded and scorned for never being able to buy a house because we like avocado toast. Working so hard, but never working enough in the same breath.
  It was never about the fucking toast. 'Goblin mode' and 'adulting' and 'gamer shut-in' and 'NEET' was never about being lazy. It was always about painting out the propaganda to guilt us into not meeting the model of expectation instead of our elders accepting blame. Maybe, hear me out, they should open their eyes and see that we're living in a level of poverty so hilariously deep that not even our kids--Gen Z and Gen Alpha--will be able to dig it out.
  They're not giving up because they're lazy. They're opting out of a system designed to fail.
- 15 years ago millennials were cast in the generic framework of lazy younger generation. Now we have hindsight for them to be able to observe what actually happened. Millennials absolutely became a workaholic play hard generation.
- Maybe Chinese millennials are more hard working ~~cooler~~ than us American ones?
- Man I remember when I was allowed to work hard, now robots get all the jobs and I'm stuck. It's really weird.

Today, over 4 million American Gen Zers remain jobless. In China, the government has said that as of February, 1 in 6 young people are unemployed.
I hate mixed comparisons...
There's about 69 million (nice) Gen Z in America.
So America = 5.7%
China = 16.6%
- Are those 69 million all adults/working age already?
  For full context it might also be useful to see the unemployment rates in other age groups in both countries.
  
  Gen Z are all 18+ now, and it's a safe assumption neither number includes students
  
  There's a lot of factories over there dude

I'm sorry, but Millennials or Genz did not invent quiet quitting. The media made it up to describe just doing your damn job

Aren't rats notable for their hygiene and social skills? Seems like a poor comparison.
- Chinese culture has almost satirical levels of disrespect and misunderstanding of animals so it's very much on character.
  I used to have 3 rescue rats and they are incredibly clean, active and social animals. I'd used to take them outside and observe how they explore new areas and its was really incredible how coordinated and thought out their exploration plans would be and executed with utter most curiosity. Also very cute how they'd come back to me and ask to be taken home to their cage by basically hugging my foot.
  
  Rats are the best. Little pocket puppies
  /r/rats is the reason I'm still on Reddit
  The pet rats community here is far too quiet
  
  One of the animals in the Chinese year is the rat. I don't think that there is a "satirical level of disrespect" if the animal is that important.
- Are they? I thought they piss and shit poison and eat their babies for food. Are you thinking of mice?
  
  You're thinking of humans

That’s just called depression. I’ve been experiencing that for years
- Late-stage capitalism induced depression 👈
  
  The environment doesn’t help whatsoever and capitalism absolutely breeds this but it’s not the sole cause. Depression is still a disorder that needs to be treated and would still exist even without this hostile environment we live in

The rat seems to be their equivalent totem to the raccoon/opossum
- the gutterpunk peoples speak of this as a sign
  
  The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.

You sure it's not just depression?
- If it is, staying in a dark house and not exercising is definitely not what one wants to do.
  
  well, depression doesnt make it easy to do those things
  
  Ditto this. This isn't the hard-hitting smear they think it is, it's a cry for help. They're suffering the same symptoms of a collapsing society that we are. That's not demeaning, it makes me sympathize with these kids even more.

I can get behind this. Overthrow your country's oppressive working conditions by simply refusing to engage and proudly calling yourself a rat. Everyone in capitalist hellscapes should do that.

Friend, fuckin' same. It seems like all the propaganda hit pieces do is make them feel more relatable, damn.
- You have more in common with a Chinese or Russian worker than any billionaire.

Related: Goblin Mode
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_mode
https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2022/
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/goblin-mode
- Congrats to the Wikipedia contributor who managed to get “shitposter” into a sentence without it being removed
- thanks for that :D

Isn't there the japanese thing "lay flat" where it's just about surviving and not excelling in life
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_ping
  It's Chinese, seemingly
- I would be surprised if there was not

If only all the rats of the world combined into an unruly rat king... Then things would change.
- Master Splinter?
  
  Worse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king

I'm doing the same thing in the US after getting laid off, have no energy or motivation to apply for jobs or prep for interview. I'm kinda depressed about this situation but also kinda happy to have the freedom to actually rest and breath again, for a first world country the American work system is draconic, and tying Healthcare access to a job is just inhumane
- Sorry to hear you lost your job. Hoping the best for you, internet stranger!
  I agree that tying healthcare to one's job is totally fucked up. Everyone should get healthcare, period. A less than 40 hour work week, and a ubi would be nice too.

Wasn't there also the "lie flat" trend? It's not just Gen Z who are calling uncle. If I had the means, I'd join them.
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_ping
- Do you mean planking?

how can you afford staying in bed scrolling on phone and ordering takeouts? rent, electric, phone, gas bills? is it because their boomer parents have one child and pay everything for them even when they grow up?
- My guy, gen Z's parents are gen X and millennials, not boomers
  
  Right on the cusp myself but my parents are boomers and I'm not the only person my age that's true of
- Bingo. Gen Z is still a young adult by definition so the parent's hope is they might land a job somehow. China is a fast moving economy and it's ultra competitive, some people would be inevitably left out.
- They are rats man. They find a way to survive just like....... well.... rats
- wondering this as well

So how do they keep a roof, four walls and food?
- Children don't always leave to form new households in China. It's common, especially for unmarried children, to continue to live with their parents after they've grown into adults.
  
  Common in most of the world. Individualism has been well marketed to the West.
- communism
  
  That's not the right answer. You'd think someone from lemmy.ml would know a bit more about this topic...

I would too if I didn't have to work full time for affordable health care pouts

The whole gig economy / hustle culture was deliberately abused by companies treating people like consultants except with low wages and certainly zero benefits. People are taking all the downside and businesses are completely covered from any liability. It has to end somewhere.

A sudden seemingly coordinated wave of "China is horrible" stories, just as the courts start striking down Trump's 145% tariffs.
Crazy coincidental.

holy fuck i want to spend days in bed

Most of us spend entire nights in bed, we should not judge

Rat people unite

Fuck ya. Go rat people go!

The greatest tragedy of 21 century is masses of pacified people who farm karma and validity online in some circlejerks to feel dopamine hits from moral superiority.
It’s the real brain drain of today.
When they give up, the Machiavellists who were countered by brave people in the past come in full force.
I ask you… no I beg you. Use the internet to enhance communication, not just as an escape. We cannot afford to run from the problems any longer
- To tell another story, workers are like kindle of the great furnace of the industrial-capitalist complex, and to stay at home is to take away the fuel from the machine.
  
  Only when the machine stops can we finally take it apart and fix all its problems. (I dont entirely know what this means I just wanted to say something profound-sounding)

It would be so very Warhammer 40k if sheer capitalism warped humanity into the Skaven.

They quit rat race

I always find these articles being so popular in western social media weird and subtly braggy. It's like the Lyndon Johnson quote about about making white feel better than black people so you can rob them of whatever. Such a distraction that makes people feel like we're better than them/at least we're not them. Yet pretty much every trend I've seen about Chinese ennui was at the time true of Americans and western Europeans just articles being written about the ennui would not be mainstream for a couple more years. Like minimalism during the financial crisis or recently quiet-quitting in the US were celebrated in US social media as great workers movements that are positive social movements and a sign of cultural strength while lying flat in China in US social media is a sign of societal decline. Whatever either is, it's the same shit. It's always weird exoticism to me. You don't get popular articles about youth expectations about young people in Romania or Greece
- Americans shouldn't be looking at other countries to feel better about themselves regardless. They should be letting themselves feel bad so that they actually maintain some energy levels to fight for their own rights domestically instead of contributing to the constant stream of jingoism that has been American media since inception. Decades living and its a cycle of next enemy while economic disparity just keeps widening but people are pacifying themselves with the next enemy
- Ehh it’s just your projection, people aren’t okay all over the world because of global downturn
  There’s no bragging, just journalism. I am from Poland btw and here and in eu all gen z have similar tendencies. Worse in USA and China probably but it is a global trend
- I would imagine it reads rather differently to different people. Rich guys reading Forbes probably think it's a great dunk on China. Meanwhile, I'm reading it thinking, "Shit, I could get behind this. Just wish I lived somewhere that it didn't mean I would be homeless in less than a year if I tried it."

Wow! I'm totally a rat person! I do work but I hate doing anything else.

How do you have a house or eat if you don't have a job?
- living with their family and hoping that food stays cheap, i guess

removed I'm disabled

Amateurs.

I mean if I lived in China I'd give up too, or worse. Seems very sad to be there
- Sad to be in the US, too. Honestly, this feels too relatable. The system is rigged against us, and people who were in power before we were even born pulled up the ladder behind them.

At least they are proud

Careful, I hear ml and hexbear users gearing up anticapitalist rhetoric to one up you with. I see the fedoras and neckbeards in the distance
- How dare they speak against capitalism! Only people as smart and cool as us know the Truth™️
  
  The Reddit liberals are here and it’s disgusting.
- Living rent free in your head.
  
  Here's one of their alt accounts now!
- removed, you live in Alsace. You are a peasant. You need to give your fuckin' lord the grain. Your fucking children, you've had 15 children. You've never taken a bath. You've literally never. washed. your. penis. You've never used toilet paper. Motherfucker, you have worms. You are dying. You've had 40 children, 3 of them are alive. 2 of them are child soldiers in the Duke's army.
  removed, the greatest thing you can hope for is to die at the old age of 36. You fucking can't read. You don't know what TV is. If you were transported into today, you would be the worst gamer of all time. You don't know shit. You literally probably don't even know what the direction 'left' is. I'm sure some Medieval guy is gonna get mad at me for this, removed I've been to the Renaissance Fair. I've eaten a large turkey wing, which the Juggalos call 'removed beaters', which I think is problematic but a funny thing to call them.
  Motherfucker, you gotta recognize where you are, and then you gotta get passed that. You gotta be unemotional. You can't sink into this hole. You live in the oubliette. Your job is to crawl up the ladder, motherfucker. You live in the HOLE. You're in the HOLE. You are a RAT. And the rat, when he's in the hole gets fucked. People only throw trash in the hole.
  You need to eat a body. And you need to carry the plague. And you need to carry a plague around this whole world, that will change this whole fuckin world. And all your enemies will vomit black bile and will choke on blood and will grow boils and die. But only if you get together with your other RATS. And you come up with some kind of super plague, to fuckin end your enemies and...
  End. This. Nightmare.

Slow news day?

111 comments