Cultural trends from the early 2000s have been resurfacing on social media in China, serving as an outlet for urban youth. Amid stagnant domestic consumption and competition for jobs, young graduates are frustrated. Coping with pressures, today’s youth are turning to the past as a form of aesthetic expression and as a critique of the current economic reality.
Chinese youth face economic stalemate
Dwindling job and income prospects in China are fuelling intense social media chatter about the fashion and culture of the country’s high-growth period 20 years ago, in what analysts describe as a way to express discontent about the economy without attracting censorship. The hashtag phrase “beauty in the time of economic upswings,” often accompanied by early 2000s pictures of celebrities wearing bright clothes and make-up or music videos and TV ads from that period, surged in social media mentions over the summer just as 12.2 million university students graduated.
They entered one of the most challenging job markets in decades – pandemic years aside – as the world’s second-largest economy grapples with higher U.S. trade tariffs, deflation, industrial overcapacity, and sluggish domestic consumption. While China is growing at roughly 5% this year, analysts describe it as a dual-speed economy, with manufacturing and exports running strong, while households struggle.
The State Council Information Office, which handles media queries for the government, did not respond to a comment request. China’s ruling Communist Party exerts a high degree of control over domestic media and social media in the name of safeguarding social stability and preventing the spread of rumours and fake news. Reports and public discussions on what the Party considers sensitive are routinely removed from the internet, including views critical of the economy and any veiled criticism of policymakers.
A stage for a silent outburst
On RedNote, China’s version of Instagram, the hashtag has so far garnered close to 50 million views. Most posts come from millennial women recalling greater career and consumption choices in their twenties, says Yaling Jiang, founder of consultancy ApertureChina, citing platform data. But it is today’s young Chinese who face far more limited options, engaging with these posts.
“Considering when it has gone viral, this is likely a response to the widespread complaints about the declining value of higher education and the increasingly tough job market for young graduates this summer,” Jiang said.
The protests of young Chinese people on platforms like RedNote reveal a behavior of idealizing the past to make sense of an uncertain present, as a way to validate frustrations. The collective memory is of an optimistic past, which is the opposite of the current rigidity of the market, which this movement seeks to protest.
Visual codes as a form of indirect criticism of the government
Xiao Qiang, the founder of U.S.-based China Digital Times, which tracks China censorship, says the topic’s popularity “poses a challenge to the authorities mainly because it uses everyday symbols, such as make-up and fashion, to subtly express dissatisfaction with economic decline and life pressure.”
Rather than direct discourse, the aesthetics of young Chinese people is a weapon of expression for their dissatisfaction. They make seemingly harmless references, but these are tactics to circumvent censorship, revealing their adaptability to the internet’s rigid control. According to experts, digital protests require greater state surveillance, as they dilute political messages into everyday symbols, making repression more difficult.
The current scenario widens the gap between the past and the present
The discourse of Chinese authorities, who claim to maintain the country’s stable growth, runs counter to the behavior of young people on social media. This movement is a sign of a present in which promises of progress no longer materialize in everyday reality. Unless more structural reforms are implemented, this movement is likely to become a persistent form of cultural resistance.
GCN.com/Reuters