Gap day. This English expression comes from the well-known concept of the caesura (“gap year”, in English). Initially, a device that allows young people to take a break in their academic career in order to go abroad. For many young Chinese, we will be content to take a day off, which already represents a real decompression chamber in the face of the frantic pace of life that they now undergo and reject. Some go so far as to rent a hotel room for the day to make the most of their “gap day”.
A new idle way of life
Young Chinese are now yearning for a slower, more relaxed way of life, far from the culture of exertion associated with “996” weeks (working 9am to 9pm, six days a week). “When my job gets heavy, I book a hotel room near my house to spend time alone, watch series, have fast food delivered to me, drink bubble tea, then fall asleep quickly once I am satisfied. When I wake up the next day and put on make-up to go to work, I feel like a human being again,” a fan of these express breaks told the South Morning China Post.
The “gap days” are part of this profound questioning of the Chinese model, in the same way as the “chillax” movement. The latter encompasses a variety of activities and behaviors placed under the sign of hedonism and slowness. Take a walk in a park, cook a home-cooked meal, go fishing, enjoy tea… Fans of “chillax” want to take the time to enjoy life’s little pleasures, even if it means displeasing Beijing.
The censored caesura
The Chinese authorities take a very dim view of these calls for idleness. They try to restrict publications on social networks related to the “tang ping”, which could be translated as “staying lying down”. This movement consists in voluntarily avoiding any form of physical and moral effort to participate as little as possible in the capitalist system. Beyond a trend on the Internet, many young Chinese see it as a true philosophy of life.
Despite Beijing’s censorship, those under 30 seem determined to make their demands heard. Whether it’s lying down, adopting a more “chill” lifestyle or taking occasional sabbaticals. A single watchword: don’t drool for nothing (“chiku”, in Chinese) like their parents and grandparents did.