Young Chinese people leave prestigious jobs for manual labour.

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Young Chinese people leave prestigious jobs for manual labour.

   By the usual measures, Litters Liu had it made. She graduated in 2018 from one of China's top universities, rented an apartment in Shenzhen, and had been hired as a visual designer at a series of high-flying companies, even as youth unemployment in China was reaching record highs.

    Then, last year, she quit. She now works as a groom at a chain pet store, for one-fifth of her previous salary. And she is delighted."I was tired of living like that, " Liu said of her previous job, where she said. She had little creative freedom, often worked overtime, and felt her mental and physical health deteriorating."So I thought, there's no need any more.

     Liu is part of a phenomenon attracting growing attention in China: young people trading high-pressure, prestigious white-collar jobs for manual labour. The scale of the trend is hard to measure, but widely shared social media posts have documented a tech worker becoming a grocery store cashier; an account peddling street says sages; a content manager delivering take-out.On Copying Shy, an Instagram-like app, the hashtag "My first experience with physical labour" has more than 28 million views.

   Proponents describe the joy of predictable hours and a less competitive atmosphere. They acknowledge the change requires sacrifices Liu said she $15,000 before quitting and had to cut her spending dramatically—-- but say they are worth escaping the spiritual draining of their former jobs.

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Around the world, the Covid pandemic spurred people to reassess the value of their work—- see the" Great Resignation" in the US. In China, the forces fuelling the disillusionment of young people are intense. Long working hours and domineering managers are common. The economy is slowing, dimming the prospect of upward mobility for a generation that has known only explosive growth.

    

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  The job-changing trend has revived a debate about the futility of the rat race. Two years ago, a similar call to quit work and enjoy life, dubbed "laying flat," spread widely online.

      Since then, competition for white-collar jobs has grown only more cut-throat. A record number of students are expected to graduate from universities this year, even as companies have cut back on hiring. The unemployment rate among people ages 16 to 24 was nearly 20 % last summer, as per official statistics. So rather than trying even harder to complete it, some find the traditional loss coveted route attractive.

      Online critics have slammed the job switchers as naive, suggesting that they are play-acting in poverty or taking blue-collar jobs from less educated people who need them.