The Economist reported that more and more Chinese young people are choosing to lie flat, become full-time children, or pay about 30 yuan a day to join "pretend-to-work" companies or spend their days at the library, in order to maintain a psychological sense of workplace participation.
After The Economist published an article on September 7, 2026 pointing out that China's speech environment has fallen into a deep freeze, this article exploring cultural censorship and the boundaries of expression was deleted across the entire Chinese internet.
On September 3, 2026, The Economist reported that when its reporter traveled to Kangbao County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, to investigate the formaldehyde cabbage incident, they were obstructed on the spot by local police and officials from the propaganda department, who refused to answer any questions.