Are young Asians doing the bare minimum to get by or are they being drained in intense competition?

A survey on young Asians’ values reveals that 59.8% of young Asians in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia are positive, and they refuse to do the bare minimum to get by or “tang ping” (lying flat) as in Chinese.

Singaporeans are the most positive with a score of 64.7% in terms of engagement, motivation, execution and expectation, followed by Taiwanese (63.6%), Malaysians (62.5%), Chinese (58.8%) and Hong Kongers (55.5%), in a survey jointly conducted by Taiwan-based Global View Research, Lianhe Zaobao of Singapore, Sin Chew Daily, and the Department of Journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University.

The survey collected feedback from 6,596 youths aged between 18 and 45 from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Based on online jargon tang ping (lying flat) and nei juan (involution) popularly used to describe the social phenomenon among young people of doing the bare minimum to get by (no dating, no marriage, no property, no children) or exhausted by internal competition, the survey gauges the values and outlook of Asian youths in various aspects.

“Lying flat” is seen as a withdrawal syndrome of disappointed young people opting out from the rat race while involution refers to intense competition which drains everyone in the same industry without making significant progress.

Malaysian youths are more positive than their counterparts in China and Hong Kong, scoring 56.9% in engagement, 67% in motivation, 62.2% in execution and 64% in expectation.

In other words, Malaysians are positive and they try to be independent without having to rely on family support.

Malaysians, Singaporeans and Taiwanese scored more than 67 points in terms of aspiring to be successful, innovation, risk taking and dependence on family.

The statistics also shows that three quarters of respondents would actively seek employment instead of relying on family support.

A total of 85.5% of Malaysians are inclined to lead an independent life, followed by Singaporeans (84.3%), Hong Kongers (81.9%), Taiwanese ( 81.5%) and Chinese (75.2%).

A small number of respondents do not worry about income because of financial support from their parents.

A total of 682 Malaysians, 97% of whom ethnic Chinese, took part in the survey conducted in last November and December.

Read:

1. Malaysian youths say ‘no’ to ‘lying flat’