The Chinese Ministry of State Security sounds like something straight out of Orwell’s 1984. That’s because it is. The MSS is a civilian intelligence agency that not only handles foreign intelligence (like the CIA) but also monitors domestic dissidents in order to protect the communist party.
Today the MSS issued a warning that unnamed overseas actors were pushing a dangerous message on China’s youth: Give up. This account comes from China’s English language Global Times:
China’s state security authority on Tuesday exposed anti-China forces who have been fabricating narratives such as “class solidification” and that “hard work is useless,” laying bare overseas organization-backed anti-China forces of funding internet influencers and spreading “lying-flat” content to lure Chinese youth to “let it rot” and to erode their mindset.
According to an article released via public WeChat account of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), as defeatist slogans like “lie flat if you can’t keep up with the competition” and “giving up is optimal” spread online, Chinese youth risk growing disoriented. The MSS urged Chinese youth to stay vigilant against hidden narrative traps in such messaging…
The state security authority found that a certain overseas organization had funded various anti-China media outlets and think tanks, concocting narratives such as “struggle equals being exploited” and “class solidification means hard work is useless.” It also found another overseas organization had heavily financed “lying-flat influencers,” mass-producing short videos promoting ideas like “lying flat is justice” and “resisting rat race equals resisting exploitation,” and systematically carrying out “lying-flat brainwashing.”
In case you’re not familiar with it, “lying flat” is a phrase that has become popular in China as a response to the expectation from some parts of the society for “996” which means working 9 am to 9pm six days a week. Lying flat is the equivalent of slacking off and in the most extreme cases is called “let it rot.”
“Lying flat” became a trending phrase on Chinese social media around 2021, when the workforce was hit particularly hard by an economic slowdown, trade tensions with the West and the coronavirus pandemic.
Many young people expressed their disenchantment with China’s “996 culture of overwork” – shifts from 9am to 9pm, six days a week – that left them still unable to afford a home, much less achieve a happy work-life balance.
The concept of lying flat became so pervasive that it warranted a warning from President Xi Jinping, which appeared in an article published in October 2021 by Qiushi, the party’s flagship political theory journal.
“It is necessary to prevent the stagnation of the social class, unblock the channels for upward social mobility, create opportunities for more people to become rich and form an environment for improvement in which everyone participates, avoiding involution and lying flat,” he was quoted as saying.
Two years later, Xi issued another note of caution – this time for cadres – at the second plenum of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog.
A national campaign followed, with local governments naming and shaming grass-roots officials who were lying flat, in a bid to resolve the problem. But the attitude has persisted amid grim employment opportunities for young people.
The MSS didn’t identify who was supposedly behind this foreign campaign (supporting something that has been around for five years at least).
The MSS said certain overseas organizations—which it didn’t name—have funded anti-China media outlets, think tanks and influencers, and have carried out a systemic “lying-flat brainwashing” campaign.
The agency—a secretive organization whose mandate includes counterespionage—urged young people to stay vigilant, work hard and reject trends like “lying flat.”
The message did not go over well with everyone.
In group chats and comments, many Chinese social-media users criticized the MSS’s message, complained about long working hours and urged the government to do more to protect labor rights. Some said they were tired of Beijing using “foreign forces” as an excuse for social problems…
The risk for the ruling Communist Party is that youth discontentment could bubble up into unrest or hinder China’s ability to achieve its economic and technological goals.
China does indeed blame every bad trend on foreign adversaries because of course nothing bad that happens is the communist party’s fault. The party is only responsible for successes. It’s more likely that “lying flat” is a response to the youth unemployment rate which is nearly 17%. That’s pretty daunting for the 12 million graduates about to graduate and enter the workforce. The fact that China didn’t identify the culprits also makes this story seem a bit sketchy.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
Help us continue to report on the administration’s peace through strength foreign policy and its successes. Join HotAir VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
