A story was very popular within the emerging environmental protection organization 20 years ago, and I often heard about it in Beijing.

The story went: All the fishermen went out fishing in a sunny afternoon, except one, who was lying by the seaside leisurely, sunbathing. A passer-by asked him, “why don’t you go fishing?”

The fisherman answered, “why should I go fishing?” The passer-by said, “fishing can earn you some money.”

“What do I do with this money?”

“With the money, you can build a house and improve your life.”

“So what if my life is improved?”

The passer-by said, “then you can relax, lie by the seaside and sunbathing.”

The name of the story is “straight into the good life,” probably a modern variation story strain of the “tangping-ism” or “lying-downism” virus (“Tangping” is a recently-made popular Chinese phrase that means “lying down”, or “lying flat”). I remember this story so well, perhaps not because of the story itself, but the environmental protection enthusiasts at the time who, like a preacher, tirelessly promoted a simple lifestyle, warned about consumerism, and voiced against the disorderly infrastructure project. They were sincere and dedicated, but facing the general climate of “develop, develop, develop,” “everyone works toward becoming middle-class,” and “the great national rejuvenation.” Their hard work hit against a brick wall.

There was actually an outbreak of the “lying down” virus several years ago, which happened in a human resources company called Sanhe in Shenzhen. “Sanhe dashen” (the great god of Sanhe) has become famous, as it represents a group of young men, hanging around Sanhe looking for casual works like couriers and removal to earn some money, who have no fixed address, live far away from home, work one day then have three days off, have no intention to seek a more “upper class” life and do not fantasize about their future. The “Sanhe dashen” virus strain was seen as an abnormality that needed to be eliminated and banished into the dark corner.

So the virus is not new, but has recently become an aggressive form of variant “lying-downism” and spread across the network. The common folks have finally found explosive wordings to contend against the official discourse: actively being passive, lying-down equates fighting back.

The development view of this system is “resources.” The beautiful landscape is, in its eyes, “mineral resources”; the traditional culture became “resources of patriotic education”; the three-children policy aims to produce “population resources”; your arms and legs are the “human resources.” Everything on earth is resources to be consumed by me, and the leeks are being planted to be harvested.

The essence of “socialist market economy,” a CCP’s pride that has taken decades to reform, is, in fact, crony capitalism. It could even be the most exploited and unchecked power market economy in the world. “The vicious combination of power exploitation and the greed towards capital is the root of all sins in this society.” It was how Yang Jisheng, an author and a former reporter for Xinhua News Agency, concluded the decades of reform in his book “The World Turned Upside Down.”

The system can keep running and exploitation can continue because a large group of people is willing to be the “smalls screws of the big machine” and follow the rules. They know they cannot change the reality or fight against it. They feel helpless, so they obey. As a result, they are not only victims – they have contributed to the making of this people-eating machine.

Finally, someone realized: you can’t fight against it, but if you lie down and stay still, the machine will start to lose its power.

The biggest fear of those who harvest the leek is that the leek finally understands what’s going on.

(Allan Au Ka-lun, veteran journalist)

This article is translated from Chinese by Apple Daily.

Click here for Chinese version

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