Why Are Chinese Lying Flat? - Tang Ping Phenomenon - Intermediate Chinese - Chinese Audio Podcast

For years, Chinese have been known for being industrious and hardworking. But recently, an increasing number of young Chinese have changed their views on these virtues - why? Eileen and Sharon discuss the reasons for this shift in attitude among many Chinese workers.
Learn real spoken Mandarin by listening to long podcast conversations accompanied by full Hanzi, Pinyin and English translations.
Music: Blue Skies by Silent Partner
Watch this video WITHOUT English subtitles:
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[@MandarinCorner2]

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[@WinterTitan]

Sorry for an unrelated comment, Eileen, but every time I watch your videos, I can't help but be amazed by how beautiful your eyes are! So there, I said it 😋

[@Jay-xh9dl]

对我们HSK4级以上的学生，这个内容是非常合适的！我也非常喜欢您教汉语的方法，真的是最好的。谢谢！

[@alicesenz6374]

This is already one of my favorite lessons so far. The interesting topic, the repeated words throughout the conversation, the wonderful guest, I can tell I'm gonna be listening to this one over again.

[@-whackd]

Sounds like a positive movement we call "minimalism" in the West, although the focus is on anti-consumption, most people continue working. The purpose of minimalism is to simplify your life by owning less things.

[@kantnergirl08]

看了三分鐘而已就發現自己前20年一直屬於躺平的狀態下，哈哈哈哈哈 , 很多人都問我你怎麼那麼一直很開心呢？因為過著簡樸的生活相當於快了吧！ 3 minutes in and I realized I’ve been lying flat for the last 20 years! People always ask me why I’m so happy. Simple life= happy

[@Karl-going-solo]

我现在也平躺着。 如果你想躺平和我一起享受生活，请给我发消息哦

[@ValleyData]

This is a great conversation. I agree with the topic too. It's becoming much more difficult for the independent youth to compete in the marketplace with such high expectations. Entry level jobs in the U.S are asking for 5y experience and degrees, yet pay $15h 🤣 I think it's best to take a creative approach while putting health and awareness first I really enjoy this videos listening format, you're both great speakers 😁

[@ranimeRAT]

I saw a listing today that wanted no more than 5 years experience, but also wanted experienced workers - the job was just above minimum wage!

[@adriancann5056]

excellent discussion as usual. one thing i find very interesting is the fact that even with the supposed cultural differences, life is basically the same. almost all of the ideas discussed exist in the US to the same degree.

[@EzekielDBarrett]

These are generally western ideas that have recently entered the discussion here. A lot of cross-educated students and internet influence here. The next generation will not be so liberally minded. And let's say, a lot of this discussion is to do with the middle class and up. There's a lot of lower class here who don't have any options. They often are economically forced into migrant jobs with only a few days off a month where they sleep in a big dormitory or on a couch. Anyways, good discussion centering on a mentality pervasive among 14-26 year old's here atm

[@jeanbon6710]

Yeah, well, it happens especially in Asia. What they said about education, and parents wanting their kids to be the best, studying 12 hours a day etc, it's exactly same (and more extreme) in South Korea

[@obsidiansnow3790]

This is something people overlook constantly

[@herdsire90210]

Besides lying down from the Fentanyl.

[@trendy-retro]

I don't speak Chinese (yet), but I find your podcasts soooo interesting! Thank you!

[@RicardoTellez_journey]

Thank you Eileen for such excellent interview. Your skills for interviewing are great as you demonstrate in all your videos. Awesome preparation as always. But today I also got impressed by the very good speaking skills of Sharon. Her explanation of the terms and situations are very good. I loved your conversation so clear to follow (I need to read the english subtitles yinwei wode hanyu hai bu hao). Keep doing such amazing work

[@mvdmusicvideostorefreshthe3224]

I found this conversation and topic totally absorbing, what an amazing young woman your guest is, I was amazed by her understanding and wisdom. Her viewpoint reminds me of Jesus' words about what is really important in life Luke Chapter 12 verses 13 to 34 inclusive. Thanks Eileen for the interview.

[@predrag-peterilich900]

Interesting and timely topic; good and useful vocabulary. Eileen, you are becoming far more than just (an excellent) Chinese language teacher; you are an asset to your homeland and to You Tube,

[@limkashito]

Никогда не изучал китайский язык, но не могу остановиться слушать уже 20 минут! Очень красиво звучит:)

[@RiDankulous]

Avoiding a vehicle purchase, especially when living closer to work and having good public transport available, is extremely wise decision in some cases. If one expects to move around to different jobs, it can be wise in certain circumstances to rent only.

[@robertv.8893]

Highly interesting conversation! 1. Sharon is a fantastic knowledgeable girl. Really putting the situations together as they are. 2. When it comes to entrepreneurship. Find your buying customer first. Without it, you fail. 3. The mad rush for high education is starting to show its downsides. In Western Europe we face this problem already for a good 15 years. A plumber or electrician earning per hour an equivelent of a junior lawyer or general practioner. In reality, not everybody can be university schooled and the economy requires people from all layers of education. 4. It surprises me why the government is being left out of the conversation. As in, the CCP has massive influence in the market and daily lives of Chinese that they can use their power to introduce helpful and effective policies. Its not long before China will face a grey-wave like Japan, and then the youth is worth its weight in gold for the continuation of a population. Unlike other countries with an immigration appeal as a saving grace, China does not have that which makes them all the more reliant on its internal population.

[@RiDankulous]

The media we consume I believe can have a great impact on our life expectations. I reduced my consumption of standard media, along with all the advertising that goes with it, when I switched to a strict whole plant food diet. The food commercials would make me hungry. I even traveled a route away from tempting restaurants, at least for awhile. I believe this change helped reduce my chance to eat unhealthy foods during the transition period. After success and being strict on a healthy diet for 5 years, I realized this change impacted my view of other items, such as consumption of unnecessary items. The reason to purchase the items is inferred by the commercials to gain status. It is false status but many people like myself start to believe it the more they consume the media too much. There is over-commercialism in my society. Major sports is a good example of excessive messages to consume unnecessary products, including certain foods, alcohol, clothing and cars. I am very frugal and purchase durable clothes of minimum cost and no visible emblems of commercialism on them. Whole plant foods tend to be very inexpensive and must be cooked, though. I saved considerable money. I will travel by vehicle the minimum necessary. Tourism is not necessary. The world to me can be viewed through education from books, documentaries. I still enjoy the occasional drama or two.

[@markboudreau1410]

Good pod cast! Support the lie flat movement. Workers rights need to change in China. It fine to work hard and get ahead but 996 is ridiculous. You should be able to marry and buy a house without sacrificing your entire life.🙏🙂♥️RI USA

[@ruben7801]

996 is strictly illegal already but other rights do need to be tightened

[@Gloriosus]

Brilliant, very well put. Thank you for explaining this. All societies change over time, of course, and I think China will see great improvements over the next 20 years as it finds a balance between quality of life and the need to work and produce goods.

[@Grem305]

Thank you Eileen. Very informative podcast. Sharon's speech delivery is great . She explains things very clearly. Her spoken Chinese is impeccable and the level of conversation is nearing advanced (level). I have to slow it down a bit to fully grasp the whole meaning of what she is saying sometimes. Thank you again for these wondeful videos. Love from France.

[@popwittenino7411]

Sharon aced this episode! She adequately answered all the questions by Irene and inserted interesting chinese idioms here and there. She must have spent much time to prepare for this episode. And she looks like a cute teenage girl. By the way, Irene, this is the greatest content for intemediate to advanced students available on youtube. Do more of these if possible.

[@ArmAlKay]

Very thoughtful and intelligent guest. Excellent interviewer. Well chosen subject. My monthly Patreon support is a great investment. I hope Eileens podcasts will find many supporters.

[@vocefalaportugues4736]

Love this podcast, another subject could be “ Traditional Chinese Versus Contemporary Chinese “ what is different and what is considered normal? Thanks for the good job,

[@RiDankulous]

The world has changed a great deal in a short period of about 120 years. We are adjusting into a new pattern and letting parents know we love and respect but disagree. There are some parents that come around to the idea that there is an important reason children do this. They are under great pressure in many areas.

[@srma9854]

特别好用的内容！！

[@chris_chuu3505]

I stop in a few times to listen, great discussion as usual :) here in the Caribbean, we say "lying low." It's feel nice to relate to a few things at times, i might even pick up this lifestyle in a few years.

[@karogod]

I think this is one of the best content for Chinese learners. I hope to see more of your video podcasts! 辛苦你了！

[@danieljackson8776]

excellent video, thank you mandarin corner.

[@juliebauml1942]

A thoroughly engaging dialogue. Thank you for sharing your perspectives. I will keep listening in an effort to gain more understanding of Mandarin the language and of the contemporary cultural issues in China. Much love from Chicago. 🇺🇸

[@Je.rone_]

First video I’ve seen in this channel and I’m liking it!

[@MandarinCorner2]

*TOO FAST?* Control the video's playback speed by speeding up or slowing down the video 5% at a time on desktop computers and laptops OR 25% at a time on smartphone! *Access the playback speed controls as follows:* *Desktop Computers and Laptops:* open the video, then go to the *lower right of the video's screen* and click on the *settings* icon (it looks like a GEAR). On the upper right of the options window that comes up, you will see the link "custom". Click on the "custom" link to control the video's playback speed by speeding up or slowing down the video 5% at a time. *Smartphones:* open the video and go to the *upper right of the video's screen.* You will see *3 dots.* Click on them and you will see the link to open the "playback speed" controls. Click on this link and you will be able to control the video's playback speed by speeding up or slowing down the video 25% at a time. Note that viewing the video on desktop computer/laptops gives you greater control over the playback speed (5% vs 25% on smartphones). *Mandarin Corner*

[@celiad6012]

I do this, then watch them again. Thank you for the interesting discussions

[@samalford8923]

谢谢你又放一个十分有趣、充满意义的视频！

[@anfilogoffgn]

These videos are great, thanks - would it be possible to put the subtitles at the top of the video though going forward? When you pause the video to see the characters, the youtube video bar comes up and hides it for 5 seconds!

[@senxu3960]

Thanks for another amazing upload Eileen! God bless.

[@willtoms0815]

Thank you for this! Tons of great vocabulary here.

[@mime3761]

This is my favorite KZbin channel, by far.

[@FilipP88]

Thank youuuuuuu I'm always looking forward to your new podcast episodes

[@dustedpinstripes]

I love your channel!! Thank you so much for your hard work ❤

[@williamkauffman5745]

minimalism is gaining popularity in the USA also, many of the same pressures of life are found here

[@bingolittle8725]

谢谢你们

[@lilqu33n]

非常有意思的视频！我感激你跟你的视频中国现代文化解释。你们说话的速度也非常好。我不了解所有词可是我看你的视频的时候总是学习生词

[@egarza]

Great talk!

[@The.gm63]

Great content as always. Keep it up.

[@lionelharmon9541]

Happy to hear your understanding on this topic. Explained very well many good examples. Keep it up

[@mitin09]

Thanks for sharing

[@martinkelly1856]

Excellent interview and great way of learning new expressions

[@EloiseMarriott]

Great content, thanks!

[@realtissaye]

very insightful!

[@tacitozetticci9308]

This channel is just so great

[@he.ming.juan22]

谢谢你们！你们讨论了的话题很有意思！

[@paulagodebrito]

amazing discussion as always

[@MegaVardz]

Thanks so much! This was awesome. Wish I could speak like you two haha

[@lovelanguage3437]

You are amazing

[@RecorriendoHK]

Sharon的声音非常好听！ 让我觉得很放松。

[@chickenz4604]

very good very nice video

[@MargitMargalit]

Very interesting. It seems the newest youngsters return to some thoughts of old, as tangping sounds Buddhist, minimalist. Is there a chengyu to say this returning to old is a new modern thing? 非常有意思的播客/视频！ 我觉得现代的年轻人 回来 老人 从佛教来的的看法。

[@Magnai222]

Thank you))

[@ayeh]

Great video

[@michlooi]

Thanks.

[@Hangdt2490]

thanks

[@predrag-peterilich900]

22:04 "being paid to 'take a s...''". Although this may differ from place to place the general meaning of the phrase points to something else, unrelated to a toilet: It means that at the workplace you will have to do all kinds of seemingly stupid, unnecessary, and sometimes plain wrong things. Even more it means that you have to flatter your boss and praise his/her directives and decisions be they good or plain wrong. So, not only "Take a sh.." but also "Eat sh..." You will find this ability to be far more useful for your career than your skills, professional competence, and hard work; in academia, in business, or in government (even more).

[@ranjeetpaswan5293]

Nice.

[@teach-learn4078]

Spending a lot of time may or may not mean you're getting good work done, especially not in white collar work. But people mostly are very willing to put up with ridiculous rules and expectations rather than take a stand for what is actually only reasonable.

[@laaaliiiluuu]

That's how slaves are. Complaining but accepting it anyway. Hahahahahahaha

[@petermangriffin9710]

i think "lying flat" is the same as "laying low" very interesting conversation, jobs are going to be scarce, each time more we won't have anything to do, except lie flat during this "lying flat" time, you can have ideas and etc.. that you wouldn't have if working hard all the time

[@mrthomvlog7983]

Nice

[@ruben7801]

很有意思

[@alveek]

Thank you for this episode! Does Sharon have her own channel or podcast?

[@MandarinCorner2]

No

[@songoftheiceandfire7140]

Ur the best

[@4SyriaTruth]

You guys are awesome ++❤++ Jesus bless you

[@arishem555]

Just think about it for a second. How much time someone needs to build house/condo by themselves? I would say if someone gonna be proficient in the all construction departments, - they will do it probably in one year from a start to the end. But since everyone does what they do, - those skills should be traded. Someone is a good farmer. Someone is a good accountant, someone good in IT. We are kinda should be able with what we are doing to be able to afford place to live and food in a short term. Houses should not be more expensive than 10 years of mortgage. The only reason why they are, - is because some people are stealing from the others. Some people have more wealth than the others. But they trapped in their jail they built for themselves. Soon market corrections gonna start. You just need to put higher taxes for extreme wealth. Whenever rich people will not be able to sell or rent their properties, - it will go down 100%. 1 square meter cannot cost $10k USD. It is just impossible. Just wait for it, - worldwide correction of the prices will be soon leveled. Btw, looking for Chinese boyfriend 😀. I am male work in IT, rooster by zodiac. lol

[@maxilopez1596]

I have sometimes found it hard to relate to workaholic Chinese people - or people that value work, money, status above everything else. It seems that now I might have found my people!

[@koitsukiaya8454]

Interesting topic. I'd like to hear about hustle culture too... And what's today's generation opinion in China about both cultures

[@GordonLonghouse]

Do you know that ads for Mandarin Corner appear ahead of Mandarin Corner vids?

[@MandarinCorner2]

No, did not know this. Thanks for the info.

[@citrusblast4372]

today i learned what the "le" character is and what it looks like lol i didnt figure out what it means but i noticed it a lot

[@chanraksmey100]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@hardeepsingh-sg2kz]

Thats why in my entire career I worked for a Gongzi and laoban for only 3 years. Same situation in India

[@darrylkassle361]

No use having a big vocab if you can't even converse on a basic level which I found was common in China. We had Chinese coming up to us in person testing words we would never use . We thought what a waste of time unless you needed these specialist words for a certain job or situation. We would start talking with them and found their basic conversational skills were terrible. What's the use learning vocab that the average foreigner does not even need to know if you can't even hold down a basic convo

[@sniyut1037]

♥♥♥

[@AnhPham-fl3xb]

我问一下：糖平和糖死有区别吗？我听烫死这个词比交多的。

[@josephhill2868]

I think it's amazing when you take a break from listening to a language for over a week and then come back because I find I'm so much better and can hear most things and it's clear but when I do too much studying or listening I find myself struggling. Very strange.

[@jeanbon6710]

What they describe about parents pushing their kids to study 12 hours a day is exactly same in South Korea. Even more extreme there

[@RyGuy36]

I'm really disappointed this podcast did not end up being about the Planking trend arising from its ashes =/

[@sakurayama2969]

😘😘😘

[@G-Dao]

很理解，日本也很接近

[@ATGC256]

excellent... xiexie!

[@ericpatterson906]

What part of China is Sharon from? She uses a lot of words and idioms I’ve never heard before but have the same meanings as more common words.

[@MandarinCorner2]

She's from Guangdong, but she is using standard Chinese vocabulary in this video. However, some of the words she used might be a little more advanced. That could be why you've never heard of them.

[@ericpatterson906]

@@MandarinCorner2 understood! Thanks for the comment. Love your channel and LOVE the podcasts

[@00wxL]

在中国没有最低的工资，所以老板给的钱比较少，而且不让工人在周末休息，一个月可能两天才让工人休息。我觉得早晚会影响人的心理健康。真希望中国政府改善工人的工作条件还有设定好最低工资。

[@MandarinCorner2]

Elena，你好！中国大部分岗位是有最低工资的，除了有些拿提成的，例如房地产销售。

[@alexfreeman3697]

feichang you yisi de shipin, wo xue le hen duo shengci

[@IdeasForSuccess]

This is not intermediate Chinese, it is advanced. Watching Chinese movies from Taiwan and Singapore is much easier to understand.

[@jimmylam9846]

It is more so in South Korea !

[@noe.arboleda]

哇，Sharon好漂亮呀

[@Musamandarin]

Xiexie Laoshi..huanying laidao Indonesia💞💞

[@michaelgeorge819]

Sharon, you are very wise. I am happy whenever I find such an understanding person. I wish more people could free themselves from the constant brainwashing that surrounds us.

[@brightidea1]

Since this is titled "Intermediate Chinese", I was wondering, are you speaking at normal speed, or are you speaking slower than normal?

[@MandarinCorner2]

Normal speed.

[@ghoststreet7301]

我也想躺平:-)

[@egosirius]

Jesus Christ I can imagine subbing an intire 30 minutes video. You guys probably took more than a week to type and sync it

[@THOTHO-ie5lz]

is this really intermediate chinese? both speak real fast....

[@MandarinCorner2]

As noted in the video, you can use *KZbin Speed Control* to slow down the speech. Instruction on how to do this are in the comments section.

[@jiturathva198]

Hi

[@kenma5399]

stand up and refusing to be slaves! they stand up by lying flat

[@QuantumLeagueCapital]

sharon is cute

[@Jay-xh9dl]

Not as cute as Eileen. :)

[@eac26114653]

I'm an American male. My opinion is that human nature is similar. We, Americans, are like this (we don't like to work) because we can afford to. Our society is/was so affluent. Now that you guys (Chinese) are getting successful and affluent, you guys are getting to be the same way. Very interesting. Human nature is similar.

[@joeybwalsh]

Lay low is the correct translation, it's an old word