Opinion | How young Chinese learned to stop worrying and love themselves

After a pandemic that swept through the world, an economic slump and record-breaking unemployment rate, young Chinese have finally learned to love themselves.

One post says, “Old self, I needed to save money, why did you spend it all?” Underneath it, the same person replied, “Because your old self just loves you too much.” Another says, “Old self, I just bought a crazy expensive coat, my heart aches.” Then she replied to herself, “It’s OK babe, we can share this coat, you are so worth it!”

Similar posts have swept through all sorts of social media. People are openly expressing love for themselves, buying themselves fried chicken, having five birthdays per month, going to the gym or thanking themselves for “raising me up so well”.

Those familiar with Chinese or Asian culture will realise how rare this mentality is. The high-speed development of recent decades has spurred a society built on meritocracy. It starts early in school. Anyone who has lived through the Chinese education system has the phrase “a thousand troops crossing a single-plank bridge” imprinted in their brains. It refers to the gaokao – or national higher education exam – where every point is needed to stand out among the competition.

An extreme case is Hengshui High School, an institute in Hebei province known for churning out candidates for China’s best universities. Students hardly have time to bathe and eat, are cut off from the outside world, are under constant surveillance and have to finish mountains of mock tests that take up all their free time. All that effort is only justified when they end up in top schools.