Hong Kong —
China’s top intelligence agency has come out of the shadows to warn that young people are being tricked by foreign powers into avoiding hard labor and prioritizing personal feelings at the expense of national development. It is not very popular on the internet.
“Young people are China’s future, and they are also the main target of ideological infiltration by hostile anti-China forces abroad,” a handsome young man in military uniform says in a video posted last week by the official account of the Ministry of State Security.
The post warned young people to remain vigilant against the “trap of complex opinions” and “false” narratives that spread the message that efforts are in vain.
In recent years, there has been a growing consensus that working hard in China’s increasingly harsh economy is a waste of time, and it can be summed up in the word “lying down.”
The origins of the phrase apparently date back to a 2021 post on an online forum run by Chinese search giant Baidu. The author of that now-deleted post suggested that people should pursue a simple life instead of working all their lives chasing apartments and traditional family values.
It has become popular in recent years.
While China’s economy is home to cutting-edge AI and technology developments, it has also been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, a downturn in the real estate market, and the recent trade war with the United States. In March, the Chinese government set its lowest growth target in decades, as the world’s second-largest economy faces weak domestic demand and an uncertain global outlook.
The ministry’s post went on to say that there have been recent cases of foreign governments and organizations funding Chinese influencers and using online platforms to amplify social unrest among Chinese youth.
“By creating negative emotions, young people are subtly misunderstood and swept along without realizing it by elevating individual difficulties into broader group antagonisms,” the report said.
“Ultimately, this aims to erode the industrious spirit of China’s youth and even undermine the foundations of social values,” the post concluded.
It didn’t take long for the post to go viral on social media.
Some users asked why the spy agency wasn’t more specific about which foreign countries it allegedly funds, and asked to be contacted.
“I have already been lying for a long time. Why didn’t anyone tell me about this good thing sooner?” one post read.
“Even foreign militaries know they have to pay people for their work,” said another, referring to widely publicized incidents in which some Chinese companies delayed paying salaries during the economic downturn.
Ruby Osman, a senior policy adviser specializing in China at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said the backlash showed “a huge disconnect between the authorities and many young people’s view of ‘flat’.”
“For most social media users, ‘lying down’ is both an online joke and a coping mechanism, not something that needs to be elevated to a national security issue,” Osman said.
China’s Ministry of State Security has increased its profile in recent years. He regularly posts articles on WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform, warning people to remain vigilant against foreign forces seeking access to state secrets.
The ministry says foreign spies are infiltrating everything from mapping apps to weather stations. It also details what it claims to be espionage operations carried out by U.S. and British intelligence agencies, and how Chinese nationals studying or working abroad are said to have been scouted by the CIA.
