It is strictly forbidden to "lie down" in China

Some popular social media accounts that depict “lying down”—eschewing the rat race in favor of a more frugal, less ambitious, low-consumption lifestyle—have recently been deplatformed, to the dismay of their many fans. Although the bans were ostensibly for “violating platform rules and regulations,” there is widespread speculation that they were targeted for deletion because their easygoing ethos clashed with central government policies promoting marriage, childbirth, homebuying, consumption, and relentless hard work and sacrifice.

As the government struggles to address record-high youth unemployment, stagnant wages, and sluggish real-estate and consumer sectors, it seems to view these “simple life” video content creators as a pernicious influence.

This is not the first time that Chinese authorities have cracked down on those who would prefer to lie down, drop out, or at least take life a bit slower: in May of 2021, a “lie-downism” Douban group with close to 10,000 members was banned. A month later, a leaked censorship directive translated by CDT revealed a mandate from cyberspace authorities for e-commerce platforms to cease selling items featuring the terms “lie down,” “lie-downism,” and “involution.” State media and the Communist Youth League (CYL) have launched periodic broadsides against perceived slackerism.

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