Slavoj Zizek

LJUBLJANA – Something important is happening in China, and it should worry the country’s political leadership. Younger Chinese are increasingly exhibiting an attitude of passive resignation, captured by the new buzzword bai lan (“let it rot”). Born of economic disillusion and widespread frustration with stifling cultural norms, bai lan rejects the rat race and urges one to do only the bare minimum at work. Personal well-being takes precedence over career advancement.

The same tendency is reflected in another recent buzzword: tang ping (“lying flat”), a slang neologism denoting a sense of resignation in the face of relentless social and professional competition. Both terms signal a rejection of societal pressures to overachieve, and of social engagement as a fool’s game with diminishing returns.

Last July, CNN reported that many Chinese workers were swapping high-pressure office jobs for flexible blue-collar work. As a 27-year-old from Wuhan explained: “I like cleaning up. As living standards improve (across the country), the demand for housekeeping services is also surging.... The change it brings is that my head no longer feels dizzy. I feel less mental pressure. And I am full of energy every day.”

Such attitudes are presented as apolitical, rejecting both violent resistance to power and any dialogue with those in power. But are these the only options for the alienated?

The mass protests underway in Serbia suggest other possibilities. The protesters not only recognize that there is something rotten in the state of Serbia; they also insist on not letting the rot continue.

The protests began last November in........

© The Korea Times