Why Chinese students are pretending to be birds

Tired of the nine-to-five? Want to just fly away from it all? Well, students in China are attempting to do just that in a new social media trend, which sees users tuck their hands into oversized t-shirts and perch on household objects. The accompanying captions include variations of “don’t go to work, just be a bird instead”. If only Twitter was still around to see it.

However, this isn’t just a funny trend – these birds sing a song of exploitative working conditions in China’s faltering post-COVID economy. Many posts reference the infamous ‘996’ system, which forces employees to work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week (so a 72-hour working week). Despite being technically illegal under Chinese labour laws, many companies still enforce the policy, allegedly even TikTok’s own parent company ByteDance.

This isn’t the first time that apathy among Chinese youth has broken online trends, either. Early 2022 saw the term bai lan (‘let it rot’) cemented in online discourse. The concept originated in the NBA video game community and referred to the practice of deliberately throwing a match when chances of winning were slim, but has since grown to encapsulate a general pessimism for Chinese work culture.

More widely, those born in China between 1995 and 2010 are reported to be the most pessimistic of any demographic, with over half expressing concern for their future. This exists in stark contrast to previous generations who have experienced significant increases in their standard of living, particularly since the country opened itself up to foreign investment in 1978.

As a result, Chinese students are also more likely to be critical of the government. Disillusioned by declining prospects of homeownership and angered by some of the world’s harshest COVID-19 measures, the demographic formed the backbone of a wave of protests that swept the country in 2022, the biggest the current administration has faced so far. Despite successfully securing a U-turn in government lockdown policy, many of their economic concerns persist – and it seems that becoming a bird is their latest mode of venting frustration.

Personally, at least, dwindling chances of owning a house and rising costs of living sounds painfully familiar. Could this be the start of the international socialist revolution we've been waiting for? Probably not, but the caged bird sings regardless.