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9 viral phrases that explain China’s work culture, including “let it rot”, “involution”, “lying flat”, and the philosophy of “run”.

Discussion  2 comments

Jason KottkeMOD

Here's a 10th term: "humineral" (人矿 rén kuàng), meaning "a person relentlessly exploited by society until they are eventually discarded on the refuse pile".

1. Huminerals: You are a resource, not a protagonist. You are a means, not an end. Your life's work will go towards the fulfillment of others instead of the pursuit of your own desires.

2. The life of a humineral can be divided into three stages: extraction, exploitation, and slag removal. Investment in your education over your first decade or so is oriented at extracting your potential — turning you into usable ore. The middle decades are a process of exploitation and consumption. When you're finally useless, they'll use the least polluting method possible to dispose of you.

(via @samuel_wade)

Brady J. Frey

Don't forget: 加油.

These are cool; it would have been nice if they had broken down words. The characters (they're using mainland simplified Chinese over Traditonal) themselves have some interesting meanings. For example, while 人 is a person/human, 矿 is a noun for a mine (i.e., a mine you dig for something in or a mineral deposit, 礦 or the variant 鑛) or the actual mineral/ore you find. It's a literal 'human mine', adds to my entertainment value.

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