China’s Dali becomes mountain sanctuary for youth
- China's mountain town of Dali has emerged as a sanctuary for burnt-out Millennials and Gen Z adults fleeing hyper-competitive urban labor markets.
- Youth unemployment in China is closing in on 20 per cent, and Goldman Sachs assessed in January that corporate hiring had fallen to its most depressed level in...
- Dali has long been an escape route for China’s drifters and dreamers, its musicians and creatives.
Dali Becomes a Mountain Sanctuary for Disillusioned Youth
China’s mountain town of Dali has emerged as a sanctuary for burnt-out Millennials and Gen Z adults fleeing hyper-competitive urban labor markets. In the foothills of the Cangshan Mountain range, city-weary professionals are establishing alternative communities, retreats, and remote gigs as traditional pathways to upward mobility stall under a domestic economic downturn.
Youth unemployment in China is closing in on 20 per cent, and Goldman Sachs assessed in January that corporate hiring had fallen to its most depressed level in more than a decade, outside the COVID-19 period. China’s labour market struggles to absorb 12 million new graduates from its universities each year, driving intense competition for white-collar positions and pushing graduates into low-wage gig work.
A Long-Standing Escape Route
Dali has long been an escape route for China’s drifters and dreamers, its musicians and creatives. Around the year 2021, coinciding with the cooling of the Chinese economic miracle, a fresh wave of weary and disillusioned young people started showing up. Serving as a focal point for the country, the municipality represents the core of “tang ping”, or “lying flat” – the viral movement that kicked off in 2021 as young people declared they were opting out of jobs and societal expectations, seeing no way to get ahead.
The Economic Pressures Driving Workers to Yunnan
The traditional recipe for middle-class stability—studying hard and working hard—has broken down for young adults facing the domestic economic downturn and a collapsing property market. Coco, a former sales representative at Chinese tech giant Alibaba, who moved to Dali five years ago after suffering exhaustion, noted that many who come to Dali now do so because the economy is doing poorly, and they may have already been laid off by their companies.
Others, such as 36-year-old Monash University graduate Paul, found themselves trapped in exhausting overtime routines in Beijing and Shanghai before abandoning traditional employment entirely. Meanwhile, 30-year-old Johnny has been in Dali for four months, burning through meagre savings to survive, stating that hard work no longer delivers commensurate financial returns.
Many people who come to Dali now, it’s because the economy is doing poorly, and they may have already been laid off by their companies.
State Crackdown on Workforce Disengagement
As alternative lifestyles gain traction in mountain enclaves, Chinese authorities have moved to suppress online content promoting disengagement from the workforce. Online discussions have linked the “lying flat” mindset to foreign forces, with social media users sarcastically suggesting that foreign organisations want everyone to “lie flat” while Chinese companies pushing the 996 work culture are fighting those forces.
Structural Barriers and an Uncertain Economic Horizon
Sociologists point out that the themes of exhaustion and despondency point to an entrenched malaise among younger generations, noting that the traditional formula of hard work “didn’t give them a clear pathway to get to the next step”. It remains unclear whether alternative rural hubs like Dali can sustain a permanent parallel economy for displaced professionals as economic pressures continue to mount across urban centers.