1. Today’s news story reopened the wound from a month ago.
On April 28, 2026, the Ministry of National Security issued a document stating: A certain overseas organization has heavily funded “lying-flat internet celebrities,” mass-producing “lying-flat is justice” short videos, and systematically carrying out “lying-flat brainwashing.”
The conclusion is: Young people don’t want to strive, because someone is fanning the flames behind the scenes.
After the article was published, the comment section exploded.
It wasn’t young people being “brainwashed” with anger, but a one-sided questioning:
“Lying at home, the blame comes from the sky.”
“Give me a job with a 9-to-5 schedule, double weekends, and five insurances and one housing fund, and I’ll immediately be at odds with the reactionary elements.”
“Working on time, spending two thousand a month, you say I’m listening to overseas forces’ propaganda?”
The government wants to catch “overseas forces,” while young people just want to catch “basic decency.”
And just a month ago, on March 24, 2026, the well-known education blogger Zhang Xuefeng died suddenly on a company treadmill at the age of 41.
He was still live streaming that morning, and in the afternoon he collapsed in the company. He was a benchmark of meritocracy, the spokesperson for “people cannot stop striving while alive,” worth over a hundred million, with a schedule accurate to the minute. He practiced everything he advocated, working the hardest, and being the most competitive IP.
Then, at 41, it came to an abrupt end.
Today, a month later, when the statement “lying-flat is the incitement of overseas forces” appeared, these two news stories seemed to be linked by an invisible thread.
One proves that people who strive desperately may not even be able to keep their lives, and the other says that young people don’t want to strive because they are “incited.”
Young people look at these two news stories and feel absurd: you neither allow us to die suddenly after working as hard as Zhang Xuefeng, nor do you allow us to choose not to work hard, so what exactly do you want us to do?
2. What exactly is “lying-flat”? Please first look at the young people’s accounts.
In the Ministry of National Security’s article, “lying-flat” is described as a state of passive avoidance of the world, refusing to work, and harming society. But if you ask the young people who are really saying they are “lying-flat,” they will give you a completely different definition:
“Completing their job duties, refusing unpaid overtime, leaving work on time, wanting double weekends and five insurances and one housing fund.”
Is this called lying-flat? In any normal modern society, this is called “dedication to work.”
But in our context, it has been redefined as “lying-flat.”
Why?
Because when “996 is a blessing” becomes a hidden rule, when “voluntary overtime” becomes the standard for evaluation, when “those who can do more work” becomes “those who overwork,” normal work, instead, becomes a choice that requires courage.
And after young people have calculated an account, they find that this account is becoming less and less worthwhile.
“
The first page of the account: Is work to make money, or to maintain survival?
A recent college graduate found a job in Guangzhou with a monthly salary of 6,000 yuan.
Rent 1500, commuting 300, takeout 1500, utilities and internet 500, social and human relations 500, occasionally getting sick and going to the hospital… At the end of the month, the savings are zero, or even in the red.
He takes the subway every morning, leaves work at nine or ten in the evening, and may be called to work overtime on weekends. He worked hard, he struggled, he “didn’t lie flat,” but after a year, his bank card balance is almost the same as that of his friend who “lies flat” at home and only eats one meal a day.
The only difference is that his friend doesn’t have hair loss, doesn’t have stomach problems, and doesn’t have WeChat messages at two in the morning.
At this time, you tell him: “You can’t lie flat, lying flat is the incitement of overseas forces.”
He will only reply to you: “I work to live, not to live to work.”
“
The second page of the account: Does hard work really pay off?
35 years old is a hurdle for many people in the workplace.
On the recruitment software, “under 35” is the default screening condition. Headhunters won’t tell you, but the HR’s mouse will directly slide over your resume. You have rich work experience, you have strong abilities, you can handle things better than young people, but your age is your original sin.
A 37-year-old netizen wrote in the comment section: “I’ve been looking for a job for half a year, and I also want a job with five insurances and one housing fund, and a 9-to-6 schedule. Who can arrange one for me?”
Another 47-year-old netizen said it even more heartbreakingly: “They don’t want me even to work in a factory, saying I’m too old.”
Don’t they want to strive? They have struggled for twenty years, and then found that striving itself has become the reason for being eliminated.
At this time, “lying-flat” is not a choice, but a being chosen. The market is telling you: your efforts, at this age, are not worth much.
“
The third page of the account: Zhang Xuefeng’s 41 years old, is the most cruel footnote to meritocracy.
Zhang Xuefeng’s sudden death a month ago was like a blow to the heads of all those who believed that “hard work changes destiny.”
He was indeed successful. From a young man in a small town in Northeast China, to a top IP in the field of education, with an annual income of tens of millions, and a company valuation of over a hundred million. He used his own experience to tell countless students: choose a good major, work hard, and you can win.
But what was the price?
41 years old. Ultra-long live streaming every day, year-round without rest, personal IP is more important than the company, so he can’t stop. He collapsed on the treadmill, which was his rare “rest time.”
He made money, but didn’t have time to spend it. He gained status, but didn’t gain a life. He won the game, but the game only gave him a 41-year entry ticket.
On the day Zhang Xuefeng passed away, there was a round of discussion online: Is it worth working so hard?
Today, when the statement “lying-flat is the incitement of overseas forces” appeared, that question was brought up again, and it was even more sharp.
If this is the end of “striving,” then what is the meaning of striving?
We have been educated since childhood that “hard work pays off.” But Zhang Xuefeng’s example, plus countless cases of 35-year-olds losing their jobs, 996 sudden deaths, and monthly salaries of six thousand yuan and being in debt at the end of the month, have made young people begin to doubt: does this equation still hold?
When the reward for “hard work” changes from “buying a car and a house” to “barely surviving,” from “social mobility” to “not dying suddenly,” young people don’t want to work hard, it’s that the price of hard work has risen too fast.
3. The real contradiction is never “lying flat” or “striving.”
The Ministry of National Security’s article simplifies the contradiction to “overseas forces inciting young people to lie flat.”
But the contradiction that young people see is a completely different picture:
“You don’t allow us to be competitive, and you don’t allow us to lie flat, so what exactly do you want?”
If you work overtime, they say “overtime is not encouraged”; if you don’t work overtime, they say “you are lying flat.” If you work hard, you may be laid off at 35; if you don’t work hard, you will be eliminated at 25. If you want a high salary, you find that the price of a high salary is health; if you want health, you find that the price of health is poverty.
This is not a choice between “lying flat” and “striving,” this is a trap question with no correct answer.
And the answer “overseas forces” is more like a universal patch – if there is a problem that is difficult to explain, just stick it on.
Can’t find a job? Overseas forces are playing tricks.
Don’t want to work overtime? Overseas forces are inciting.
Laid off at 35? Overseas forces have infiltrated HR.
In debt at the end of the month? Overseas forces have raised the rent.
This patch is easy to use because it doesn’t need to solve any problems, it only needs to solve “the person who raises the problem,” turning economic problems into political problems, and structural dilemmas into weak personal will.
But young people don’t buy it, because they are too clear about how their situation came about.
They know that the rent is not set by overseas forces, but by the landlord; the salary is not paid by overseas forces, but by the boss; the 35-year-old threshold is not set by overseas forces, but by the default conditions on the recruitment software.
Their enemies are not across the ocean, but in the office buildings where they clock in every day, in the first column of the rental contract, and in the numbers in the bank card balance.
4. The essence of “lying flat” is a stop-loss strategy.
Many people say that young people today are “Buddha-like,” “depressed,” and “lacking the spirit of striving.”
But do you see those who say they are “lying flat,” are they really doing nothing?
No. Some of them are delivering takeout, some are driving online ride-hailing services, some are setting up stalls, and some are taking civil service exams. They are not refusing to work, they are refusing “ineffective labor,” refusing the kind of labor that invests 100 points and gets 10 points in return, and also has to sacrifice health and dignity.
A Zhihu netizen put it very clearly:
“The premise of striving is direction, the premise of hard work is hope. Do you talk about striving with those who work two shifts on the assembly line, and talk about hard work with those who deliver takeout for 16 hours a day? Is that right?“
The meaning of lying flat lies in the long run. It lies in acknowledging one’s own limitations, in maintaining survival at the lowest cost, and in saving a little energy to do what one really wants to do, even if it’s just getting a good night’s sleep.
This is not decadence, this is choosing to lose a little slower and more comfortably in a game that is bound to be lost.
The Ministry of National Security says that overseas forces are “busy themselves, but incite us to lie flat.”
But young people want to ask back: They are busy because they are rewarded for being busy. What do I have if I am busy?
5. Instead of catching “overseas forces,” it is better to catch “domestic problems.”
Writing this, I remembered a sentence in the comment section that was liked tens of thousands of times:
“I’ve only seen people die from overwork, I haven’t seen anyone starve to death from lying flat.“
This sentence is harsh, but behind it is a bloody fact: for many young people, the risk of “not striving” is already less than the risk of “overworking.”
Zhang Xuefeng’s death at the age of 41 a month ago was not the fault of “lying flat,” but the price of “not lying flat.” His tragedy should not be used to argue that “lying flat is harmful,” but should be used to ask: Does a system that prevents those who strive from ending well have a problem?
Today’s article may have been well-intentioned. But it touched the most sensitive nerves of young people at the wrong time, just a month after Zhang Xuefeng’s death, with the wrong attribution.
Young people are not unpatriotic, they don’t want to contribute, and they are not inherently lazy.
They just figured it out.
In an era where the input and output are not proportional, in a reality where hard work does not necessarily pay off, choosing a more comfortable and sustainable way of life is not being incited, but self-help.
Instead of pushing young people to the opposite side of “overseas forces,” it is better to ask: Why has “normal work” become a luxury? Why does “leaving work on time” require courage? Why has “hard work pays off” become a fairy tale?
These questions, the answers are not overseas, but within the country.
“When striving requires life as a bet, lying flat is not decadence, but the only stop-loss right that ordinary people have.”
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