The media has a set narrative for China's tang ping (躺平, "lying flat") phenomenon: in the face of a dire labor market and intense work hours for little return, the Chinese youths are reevaluating what makes life worth living. The result, for many, is to simply stop competing, minimize living costs, and curtail personal ambitions. This narrative is underpinned by China's economic failings. The failure to provide an increasing number of highly educated youths with employment that is both gainful and lucrative results in a negative spiral of lower consumption and animal spirits that, in turn, kills off more productive jobs.
Looking through social media, I started to see the next iteration of Chinamaxxing: going off the beaten path. The travelers have already seen the headline sights. The Great Wall, the cyberpunk skylines, the Avatar mountains, the old towns...too many people already post polished videos and photos. Too many, in fact, that for the younger generations that mainly share their trips with others in visual forms, their own content would no longer suffice. The goal is now one-upping each other to find the most obscure villages and urban corners, where they can brag about being the first foreigner ever to set foot in.