lying flat（动词/名词不加连字符；作定语时 lying-flat，如 the lying-flat movement） · Full chronicle and history

On November 10, thousands of comments appeared under a Douyin video related to human trafficking, with many netizens sharing their own experiences or those of people around them who had been trafficked.

On the evening of November 9, a student passed away at the Zhuhai Campus of Jinan University for unknown reasons, and the police immediately sealed off the scene.

Recently, netizens in many places posted on social media platforms that they had received calls from 12340, the national social sentiment and public opinion survey hotline, where staff asked about their satisfaction with local public security and their daily living conditions.

Economist Yao Yang, Dean of the Dishui Lake Advanced School of Finance at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said in a video posted on "Yao Yang Shuo" that about 100 million people in China actually pay individual income tax, that an annual income of 100,000 to 120,000 yuan puts one in the top 10% by income, and that an annual income of about 300,000 yuan puts one in the top 1%. The bottom 10% of earners account for only 0.4% of all income and have negative net wealth, and around 600 million people nationwide still earn less than 1,000 yuan per month.

On October 17, a Douyin blogger complained that young people are told to abandon the “student mindset” as soon as they enter society, asking why honest people should reflect on themselves after being taken advantage of, and saying that those who cheat and deceive are the ones who should truly reflect. The post struck a chord with netizens, who left comments in共鸣.

On October 15, a Xiaohongshu user posted that, like a capitalist who would rather dump milk than sell it cheap, they would not sell their labor cheaply either, calling on everyone not to engage in low-price involution. In the comments section, several netizens shared their experiences of frustration in job hunting and how lying flat actually saved them money.

A netizen inside the Great Firewall shared records of fines imposed on their family by the Chinese Communist Party. The fines covered a wide range of items, and the specific items were not detailed in the tweet.

Alan Macfarlane, an 84-year-old emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Cambridge in the UK, shared life advice on Xiaohongshu, surpassing 2.5 million followers in 17 months and resonating widely with Chinese youth.

On October 2, YouTube creator Bumingbai Podcast released an episode, gathering letters from eleven listeners to discuss various experiences of feeling inferior while living in China.

On September 15, Guangming Daily published an article criticizing cultural and creative products printed with pessimistic 'Sang' culture slogans such as 'May heaven have no KPI', stating that they could lead to the distortion of minors' consciousness and behavior, and calling for regulatory resistance. This move sparked widespread questioning from netizens, who believed that the authorities were confusing cause and effect and ignoring the social root causes of young people's 'Sang' culture, which stems from life's pressures.

On September 20, 2026, Beijing time, China’s Ministry of State Security and official media blamed foreign forces for interfering in the popular domestic phenomenon of “lying flat.” This official claim was widely mocked and criticized by Chinese netizens, with the relevant comment sections filled with critical and satirical voices.

On September 17, a netizen uploaded an AI short film to Douyin in which a young person runs desperately while carrying a basket on their back containing their parents, only to be criticized for falling behind, sparking widespread resonance and discussion among netizens about the heavy burden of family.

After Black Sea shipping routes were disrupted, China turned to South and North America for emergency spot purchases of grain, with international grain traders charging an extra $42.5 per ton.

China's total retail sales of consumer goods rose 0.6% year-on-year in July; retail sales of automobiles fell 13.2% year-on-year from January to July.

In May 2026, China's total retail sales of consumer goods fell 0.6% year-on-year, marking the first monthly decline since December 2022, with sharp drops in sales of automobiles, home appliances, building materials and other categories.

In May 2026, the total retail sales of consumer goods in China fell by 0.6% year-on-year.

China's Ministry of State Security released a virtual police video, characterizing the "lying flat" phenomenon that is trending on platforms as a group supported by overseas organizations and calling on young people to return to a spirit of striving.

A video of a food delivery rider in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, carrying a child on his back while making deliveries has drawn online attention, with netizens leaving comments lamenting the hardships of life and expressing dissatisfaction with official "lying flat" remarks.

Affected by a Ministry of State Security article criticizing lying flat, lying-flat influencer Xianyu Dreamer, who has 800,000 followers, quickly pivoted, buying a second-hand van and starting to drive for Huolala to document his working life.

After 1949, a large number of Chinese social elites left China; related accounts regard this as the starting point of the subsequent changes in social structure.