Why are some Chinese youth calling themselves ‘rat people', and what issues does it surface?

CNA

9 hours ago

SINGAPORE: Imagine this - you wake up past 11am. Instead of getting out of bed to wash up, you stay under the sheets for the next couple of hours, scrolling through social media, shopping apps or Netflix.
Only at 3pm do you muster up the energy to make your first meal of the day. But after that, the cycle between food, bed and phone repeats till you fall asleep, usually past midnight.
This is the life of a rat person or "lao shu ren" in Chinese, a viral term coined by Chinese youths on social media. As the name suggests, it describes a lifestyle like that of a rat - nocturnal, low-key, and surviving in the margins with no set path.
Viewed as a form of silent rebellion against hustle culture and the fast pace of modern society, it has struck a chord among Chinese youths. Beyond those in the country, many living abroad in places like the United Kingdom and Singapore have also adopted the phrase to describe themselves.
While largely seen as a lighthearted trend, it has also laid bare the serious pressures young Chinese face at school and work - from stringent academic demands to a hyper-competitive job market.
RAT RACE OUT, 'RAT PERSON' IN
The above routine is a day in the life of Pu Yiqin, 23, a Chinese master's student at King's College London and self-professed 'rat person'.
She documents her reclusive routine through daily 'humorous' vlogs shared on the Chinese lifestyle app Xiaohongshu.
In one video, she hits the hay only past 1.30am. 'Going to bed early tonight, good night,' she quips.
Also, her bedroom curtains are perpetually drawn. 'The lights are too bright, rats need a dim environment (to survive),' she remarks.
There are no official statistics on whether more 'rat people' are emerging. But there have been indications of its resonance among young Chinese.
In late February, an online post by a young woman from Zhejiang province sharing her reclusive routine racked up more than 400,000 likes.
A search by CNA on Xiaohongshu and short-video platform Douyin found numerous posts of Chinese youths - at home and abroad - documenting their 'rat person' routines.
Pu is among them. 'I can't speak for everyone, but I'm definitely a part of this phenomenon,' she told CNA, adding that she believes a lot of Chinese international students can relate to being 'rat people' in some way.
"Outside of classes or the occasional trip, most of our time is spent holed up at home … like mice living in the dark,' she said.
The trend is mostly associated with younger Chinese, particularly Gen Zs and millennials. Gen Zs refer to those born between 1997 and 2012, while millennials are those born between 1981 and 1996.
The 'rat person' trend is not novel. Parallels can be drawn with the hikikomori in Japan - people who have effectively retreated from society for extended periods, typically more than six months.
In China, hikikomori are known as 'jian ju zu', which translates to 'cocoon tribe'. A 2023 report by local news site The Paper found an estimated 900,000 members across two jian ju zu groups on the online discussion platform Baidu Tieba.
The 'rat person' identity is linked to the varying pressures facing different generations of Chinese youths, said Senior Associate Professor Kuang Xianwen from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Suzhou.
The current generation of youths, unlike those in the 1980s, feels like reaping the rewards of hard work remains elusive despite their efforts, he told CNA.
'(They) enter society, (they) work, and there's still a lot of pressure … everyone's striving so hard and some of them feel there's no hope, because competition is fierce - so what's the point?'
China's youth unemployment rate hit 15.8 per cent in April, according to official data. While the rate, which excludes students, is the lowest the country has recorded so far this year, it remains higher than the 14.7 per cent during the same period last year.
At the same time, a record 12.22 million university graduates are expected this year, up from about 9 million in 2021. The Chinese government has acknowledged the urgency to address structural challenges facing the job market.
'The mismatch between the supply and demand of human resources has become more pronounced,' said China's Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Wang Xiaoping in March.
Intense competition extends into the academic realm as well. Arguably the best example is the national college entrance examination, known as gaokao. Widely seen as a gatekeeper of opportunity, recent efforts to ease the pressure-cooker environment for students have run up against obstacles.
As a result, some opt to reject this perceived rat race - slacking off and doing just enough to get by, in a trend known as lying flat or 'tang ping' in Chinese.
The 'rat person' trend has been seen as an evolution of tang ping. Yuan Yuan, a lecturer at XJTLU, told CNA it refers to young people deciding to 'quit social competition altogether'.
'It's a form of giving up on climbing (the) social ladder, I'll put my energy into (my activities) at night, on the internet, and my role in society is simply existing like a machine,' she said.
'As an adult, there's a grey area where you know there are things at work that you have to do, and you may not agree with … you won't say 'I quit' because you can accept that it's part of work,' she added.
'However, rat people may be avoiding that grey area.'
A popular comment on the vlog of the woman from Zhejiang province sums up the mindset of those who take up the 'rat people' banner.
'We are tired of the polished, fast-paced, hyper-efficient lifestyle forced on us. We just want the freedom to lie down whenever and wherever we want.'
A FORM OF SELF-MOCKERY AND HUMOUR
At the same time, analysts see the growing youth embrace of the 'rat person' trend as a form of self-mockery, to find humour in adversity and commiserate with counterparts.
This is, after all, a generation that has taken up unconventional hobbies like raising mango seeds, rocks and even toothpaste blobs as 'pets', in a trend experts have said reflects rising loneliness and urban pressure among Chinese youth.
'If you look at rat people as a form of self-mockery, this is something that the youths are very good at,' said Yuan, the lecturer at XJTLU.
'There's a term, zi hei, where you display your most vulnerable side but in a way that doesn't let people feel anxious or worried,' she said. Literally translated to 'self-blacken' in English, zi hei means self-mockery or self-deprecating humour in the Chinese context.
'(The term) rat people is also a way of social interaction.'
Pu, the Chinese international student, shares similar sentiments.
'Maybe it's also the massive pressure that young people face; they enjoy this sort of self-mockery, humorous type of comparison,' she said.
And even if one decides to be a 'rat person', don't write off their resilience, Pu said, describing how the term carries the image of someone 'crawling in the dark but also still trying hard'.
'Many people may be existing in an environment that's unfavourable, but they will still do their best to finish whatever needs to be done.'