Voluntary withdrawal from relentless work culture and social expectations, choosing minimal effort for survival over endless competition for diminishing returns.
Tang ping is what happens when an entire generation realizes the game is rigged and decides to stop playing. In China, where 996 work culture demands 9am-9pm shifts six days a week, where housing costs have spiraled beyond reach, and where youth unemployment hits 21%, tang ping is the quiet rebellion of doing only what's necessary to survive. No overtime. No marriage pressure. No chasing homeownership. Just existing with minimal stress and minimal consumption.
The phrase means "lying flat" — the posture of someone who's stopped fighting. In April 2021, a 26-year-old factory worker posted a manifesto titled "Lying Flat is Justice" on a Chinese forum, drawing on ancient philosophy to reject modern rat-race demands. Within weeks, hundreds of thousands joined him. The government's response revealed everything: mass censorship, deleted discussion groups, state media denouncements calling it "shameful." That panic validated the movement — if tang ping was just laziness, why would authorities spend years trying to erase it?
It's both lifestyle and ideology. Some practice radical minimalism, surviving on part-time gigs. Others withdrew entirely from the social contract that promised prosperity for hard work but delivered exhaustion instead. The phrase spread not through virality but through recognition — millions of young people seeing their own burnout reflected back.