China’s economy is deteriorating, with many industries facing a downturn and people struggling to make ends meet. The Little Red Book, a popular social platform in the mainland, has become a support space for the disillusioned. Many young people use its live chat rooms to vent about their confusion, anxiety, and hardships in life.
Amid the decline of industries, a sharp decrease in job opportunities, and waves of layoffs in China, the nine-grid live chat rooms on the Little Red Book platform see a large number of disillusioned professionals inadvertently joining to share stories of their post-unemployment confusion and the frustration of their resumes being ignored.
According to reports from various Chinese media outlets on March 14, Axin, who had been unemployed for two years after working in Chengdu for over four years, started a live chat room on the Little Red Book platform in November 2024. In just three months, over 18,000 people have shared their workplace stories here.
On the first day of the live chat, Axin discovered that HR personnel and product managers from major companies like Tencent and NetEase were also joining the chat.
Initially, there were only dozens of people online in the first week. But after a few weeks, the number grew to five or six hundred, reaching over a thousand at its peak.
The profiles of those seeking help on live chat are mostly individuals between the ages of 25 and 40, including some college students and a few overseas Chinese.
In the chat rooms, the most frequently discussed terms are “confusion,” “anxiety,” and “fatigue.”
When those who have lost their jobs and felt isolated unintentionally stumble into Axin’s live chat room and see others sharing similar experiences, their hearts find solace in the collective anguish.
A 25-year-old participant named Aliang shared in the chat room that seeing others venting made him feel like he could cope with his own situation.
Aliang, who has been unemployed for three months, spends his days going for interviews or simply wandering the streets before retreating to his rented apartment to read or play games.
He recounted in the chat room his journey from graduating high school to studying computer networking through adult education, landing a job in human resources before becoming a supervisor at a customer service center of a catering group in Taiyuan.
His first attempt at planning was to apply for a job interview in Hangzhou’s e-commerce operation department. Despite thinking his life was on the right track, he experienced workplace bullying which led to his resignation.
While trying to secure new employment, his resumes seemed to vanish into thin air.
Another chat room host named “Jerry Li Da Pu” had a similar experience. In his 90s, he went through a tough time after being laid off from his job as a product manager at a foreign company in Shanghai due to company downsizing.
After unsuccessfully sending out dozens of resumes, he fell into a slump, isolating himself at home, doubting his self-worth.
In May last year, Li Da Pu initiated a live chat support group. A girl who joined his chat burst into tears almost immediately, expressing, “It’s so exhausting to struggle alone in Guangdong.”
When 28-year-old “Shanshan” connected to the live chat last summer, she had just resigned from her job.
She had worked for three years in customer operations at a foreign company in Shanghai but faced bullying from superiors after refusing to sign a blank performance improvement plan. The hostile work environment ultimately led her to quit.
Post-unemployment, she aggressively sent out hundreds of resumes, all unanswered. Feeling hopeless, she joined the chat room and questioned, “Just looking for a normal job, why is it so difficult?”
There are many more young people facing similar struggles, burdened by workplace uncertainties and personal confusions, seeking solace in the live chat rooms.
Childbearing challenges for women are also a major topic of discussion in the chat rooms.
Xiao Ma, who worked in the gaming industry in Beijing, got married last year but has been without a job since then. She lamented that being “married but without children” had hindered her competitiveness in the job market.
Suggestions arose to manipulate the truth by faking infertility reports to overcome job application barriers. A girl jokingly mentioned, “Then I’ll write ‘polycystic ovary syndrome, unable to conceive’ on my resume.”
Success stories have emerged in the chat rooms where one person noted, “A woman who was struggling to find a job added ‘married with stable children’ to her resume and then received interview opportunities.”
Despite such instances, challenges persist and reality can still be harsh.
During a discussion on the dilemma of married women in the job market, a private company boss in the chat room mentioned that his company once hired six women, three of whom gave birth within a year, resulting in decreased productivity and the company having to pay salaries despite limited output.
After the boss’s remark, silence fell over the chat room.
With China’s economy in decline and high unemployment rates, young people are facing immense life pressures. Development opportunities are decreasing, leading to intense competition. At the same time, the Chinese Communist regime’s privileges, nepotism, and uneven distribution of resources are becoming more apparent, prompting many young people to opt for a “lying flat” lifestyle. However, some are finding it hard to maintain even that basic level of existence, stuck in a life where lying flat is unattainable and striving proves futile.
Disheartened about their future, many young people in China are expressing their dissatisfaction in various ways. Consequently, a new generation of “Ten-No Youth” has emerged in Chinese society, refusing to donate blood, donate money, marry, have children, buy houses, purchase lottery tickets, invest in stocks or funds, assist the elderly, show emotions, among other things.
Political commentator Tang Jingyuan previously analyzed that with China’s persistently high unemployment rate and a vast population of unemployed youth, seen as a potential threat to social stability by the CCP, it serves as a dangerous signal for the regime.