Young people have to rely on picking up leftover vegetables to fill their stomachs. This is a female blogger showing the results of picking leftover vegetables that day. (Video screenshot)
[People News] In China, if even the life of “lying flat” cannot be sustained, what should one do? Sleeping on the street, picking up leftover vegetables… For the younger generation who graduate into unemployment, if even a lying-flat life is difficult to maintain, they can only seek ways to live a “zero-cost survival” life, and such topics are quietly becoming popular. However, after some netizens who filmed lying-flat life videos found their content deleted by platforms, they realized that even “lying flat” had become a sensitive word for the authorities, because such content exposes the CCP’s incompetence in governance.
Recently, young people in many places on Chinese social media are sharing their “zero-cost survival” life hacks. For example: spending the night in 24-hour gyms; eating by “picking leftover vegetables” in markets. Regarding this phenomenon, some praise it, some question it. Some bloggers believe frugality is a choice, but picking leftover vegetables is probably not a choice.
On September 8, a post-2000 blogger uploaded a video saying that in order to save expenses, they started a new project of saving money by picking vegetables. “Can I pick this up? First time doing this, a bit unfamiliar, still need to ask if people will allow picking, who knows if vegetables in this kind of box can be picked or not…”
Looking through some picking-vegetables videos online, the group of people doing this extends across Guangdong, Anhui, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Guizhou, and many other places. Joining the ranks of vegetable-pickers are fresh college graduates, long-term unemployed youth, full-time mothers, etc.
A blogger said that recently a large number of young people flocked to their local market, not to buy vegetables, but to join the picking army, picking up vegetables that others didn’t want. At first, everyone felt embarrassed and told others they were doing it to help stray dogs, but later they completely let go of their pride, picking more and more enthusiastically, because it was all free.
Anhui female blogger “Rong Rong Daily” on September 11 posted a video sharing her experience picking vegetables at the Zhougudui Wholesale Market in Hefei. She said her monthly mortgage is 25,000 yuan, and after seeing many picking-vegetables videos online, she also tried it and found it indeed saved a lot of money.
As more and more people join the picking ranks, some netizens commented: “This practice is pretty good,” “This can save a lot of vegetable money, that’s living wisely.” Some said: “I also want to pick, but I’d be embarrassed alone, is anyone willing to team up with me?”
But some netizens questioned that this is “just for traffic.”
One blogger commented on the phenomenon of young people picking vegetables, saying that behind it lies hardship: “After work going to the market to pick vegetables even made it onto hot searches. Many say this is thrift and frugality. Is this really frugality? Frugality is a choice, picking leftovers is probably not a choice. These young people squat in the market picking leftover vegetables, what will their parents think? After working hard to support their children through school, hoping they would make something of themselves, now they see their children surviving on scraps — the heartbreak must be worse than themselves going hungry. What will their teachers think? Once in class they said if you study well your future will be better, but reality gave a slap in the face. This is not an individual choice. That it has received such high likes and resonance, what does it show?”
The blogger said: with the economy declining and incomes stagnant, young people have to desperately cut costs just to survive. But why are supermarket vegetables getting more expensive while farmers can’t sell them at good prices? When grain is cheap, does it harm farmers? When grain is expensive, does it make farmers rich? Logistics, wholesale, retail — every link adds costs, squeezing out profits. What remains upstream is sweat and toil, what remains downstream is only high prices. True frugality should be optimizing circulation, breaking monopolies, making resources more efficiently accessible, not targeting the weakest consumers. Frugality is a personal choice, hardship is a structural defect.”
Since the COVID-19 (CCP virus) pandemic, China’s economy has continued to slump, and youth unemployment has surged. With each year’s new college graduates entering society, they face increasingly difficult employment situations. In July this year, the official national youth unemployment rate (ages 16–24) was the highest in 11 months. But outsiders believe the authorities are also hiding data, and under multiple factors, unemployment in the future will be even worse.
Fresh graduates are trapped in the confusion of graduating only to be unemployed. One recent graduate uploaded a video saying: “I have never been able to find a job. My current state can be said to be very bad. I basically sleep all day, only get up in the evening, eat a little, then start playing on my phone or browsing some job postings online.”
Another blogger uploaded a video showing a man riding a food delivery e-bike, breaking down in tears in the rain. The blogger said: “Who can understand the collapse of someone who studied four years of university only to come out and deliver takeout.”
Former CCP Premier Li Keqiang said in 2020 that China had 600 million people with a monthly income of only 1,000 yuan. In a medium-sized city, 1,000 yuan may not even cover rent. After the COVID pandemic, China’s economy became even more depressed, and people’s lives even harder. Poverty is no longer just a problem for young people to solve. In rural areas, elderly people with only a 100 yuan monthly pension face the problem of putting food on the table every day.
One internet celebrity who liked sharing his lying-flat life with netizens recently found all his videos forcibly deleted by the platform, and Douyin even shut down his account, citing “promoting unhealthy trends.” Because his videos did not conform to the authorities’ requirements to promote “positive energy,” “tell China’s story well,” and “propagate the Chinese dream.” This shows that even “lying-flat life” has become a sensitive word for the authorities, because such content highlights the CCP’s incompetence in governance. △
News magazine bootstrap themes!
I like this themes, fast loading and look profesional
Thank you Carlos!
You're welcome!
Please support me with give positive rating!
Yes Sure!