N포세대

Published: October 5th 2025 (week 40 of 2025)

The N-po generation. Essentially, the generation who have given up.

A question that immediately springs to ming is "have given up what?" There are a few levels to the giving-up; from with giving up love, all the way up to giving up life.

I think it is an even more pessimistic attitude than the tǎng píng (躺平, "lie flat"), which is mostly about giving up the struggle towards a reward that is unachievable, and being content with what is within one's grasp. It is a pretty reasonable philosophy, as far as I am concerned.

With tǎng píng you do not necessarily give up the rabbit, you give up chasing the rabbit when you see it has gone into its hole and there is no way you can fit. Sure, you could bring a shovel and start digging, but by the time you will have finished your excavation, the rabbit will be long gone.

The n-po generation looks to me more similar in spirit to the bǎi làn (摆烂, "let it rot"), which goes at least a few steps further than tǎng píng and embraces—if you can call it that—the gradual degradation and deterioration of everything.

To be honest, I am not willing to go that far. Scaling down, managing expectations, and not overplaying your hand are all fine ideas; declaring "fuck it, whatever, let it rot" wholesale seems to me like a recipe for disaster.

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