Youths object that they have heavy burdens of their own, from the gaokao university-entrance exam to bleak job prospects and unaffordable housing. In Beijing and Shanghai, average house prices are 23 times median incomes, twice the ratio in London. That is a source of particular anxiety for young men, because home-ownership is often seen as a prerequisite for marriage. Youngsters worry about the burden of caring for ageing parents, since China has few nursing homes and pensions are low. When asked in surveys to name their greatest source of happiness, having healthy parents comes second to having a stable income.

年轻人反驳说自己也有沉重的负担：从高考到黯淡的工作前景，再到买不起的房子。北京和上海的平均房价是收入中位数的23倍，是伦敦这一比例的两倍。这尤其给年轻人造成了焦虑，因为拥有住房常常被视为结婚的先决条件。年轻人也担心要承担照顾老去的父母的重担，因为中国的养老院很少，养老金也低。当在调查中被问到幸福感主要源于何处时，他们把父母身体健康列在仅次于有稳定收入的位置。

Much young resentment comes from a sense of having lost out on both the boom years and the government’s former largesse. A widely shared joke encapsulates this: “The state gave houses to our parents, and now we pay for them; it raised the retirement age when we started working; the stockmarket crashed as we started buying; and when we thought we could enjoy being adults, the state told us to have a second child”. (In 2016 China introduced a two-child rule, reversing its one-child policy.) The rags-to-riches stories that captivated their parents’ generation feel distant.

年轻人的不满有很大一部分源于他们既没赶上经济腾飞大潮，也没享受到政府过去慷慨的福利制度。一个广为流传的段子对此做了一番总结：“过去父母分房，现在我们买房；我们工作了，退休延后了；我们进场了，股市崩盘了；终于可以歇口气了，国家说生二胎吧。”(2016年中国逆转了独生子女政策，开始实行二胎政策。)白手起家的致富故事令他们的父母一代着迷，在他们听来却遥远而陌生。

One way to cope is to vent about this. Millions share memes and jokes online that sum up their frustrations. A new favourite is neijuan, or “involution”, an academic term for the process when extra input no longer yields more output. Young people use it to describe the meaningless competition in which they take part, from the educational rat-race to the fight for a white-collar job. Office workers joke that they are dagong ren (primarily manual labourers) to deplore the monotony of their jobs. They are tired of working overtime and of China’s “996” regime, a work schedule of 9am to 9pm, six days a week, usually without extra pay.

一个应对的方式是发泄。成百上千万人在网上分享总结这代人沮丧心境的表情包和段子。一个新的流行语是“内卷”——这个学术词汇指的是额外投入已不再带来更多产出的过程。年轻人用它来描述他们身处其中的毫无意义的竞争，从你死我活的学业竞赛到争抢一份白领工作。办公室职员自嘲“打工人”来哀叹工作的单调乏味。他们对加班和中国的“996”工作制感到厌倦。“996”指从上午九点工作到晚上九点，一周六天，通常没有加班费。

As disillusionment sets in, young people question Chinese societal norms. Many tune into Qipa Shuo, a hit debating show. Its topics range from, “Should I stay in a city to pursue my career even if the air is polluted?” and “A job I like requires me to work ‘996’: should I quit?” to, “Would you choose to be an unmarried mother?” and “Is it a waste for a highly educated woman to be a full-time housewife?” Among fans the debate often continues, online and offline, after each episode.

随着幻想破灭，年轻人开始质疑社会常规。许多人收看大热辩论节目《奇葩说》。它的辩题涉及各种社会问题，比如：“奋斗城市污染严重，走吗？”“感兴趣的工作总是996，我该不该886？”“是你，会不会做单身妈妈？”“高学历女生做全职太太是浪费吗？”每期节目播完，忠实观众们常常在线上线下继续争论。

Such themes reflect rapidly changing mindsets. A survey asking jiulinghou about dating and marriage found that more than half were happy to rent their homes as newlyweds. Seven in ten singletons said income was not the most important criterion in choosing a partner. Most said that the basis of marriage was a life shared by two like-minded people—a radical turn, considering that elders saw it as a contract between two sets of parents. In a society that for centuries held that a woman’s place was in the home, young mothers now increasingly reject old child-rearing norms.

这些议题反映出观念模式的快速转变。对90后约会和婚姻状况的一项调查发现，超过一半人愿意租房结婚。七成单身人士表示在选择伴侣时不会把收入状况作为最重要的考量。大多数人说婚姻的基础是两个志同道合的人一起生活——这是一种根本性的转变，鉴于老一辈把婚姻视为两对父母之间的契约。在这个千百年来都认为女性的位置就是在家中的社会里，今天的年轻妈妈们越来越抗拒有关养儿育女的陈规旧习。