A screenshot from Liu Youwen's videos about daily life in the Guizhou countryside.
刘友文拍摄的贵州农村日常生活视频截图。
Perched up against the edge of a cliff in China’s southwest Guizhou province is the bamboo shack 21-year-old “retiree” Liu Youwen built from scratch.
Three years ago, Liu left his rural hometown Xiaxixiang, Guizhou, for the city of Shantou in Guangdong, China’s richest province, joining a decades-long nationwide migration of workers from the countryside that has fueled the country’s enormous growth and created some of the world’s largest megacities.
But as a junior high dropout, it was tough for Liu to find a job. He said he was turned down by many factories due to his lack of credentials, before eventually finding work as a car mechanic, then a construction worker, and finally at a clothing factory.
坐落在中国西南部贵州省悬崖边上的是21岁的“退休人员”刘友文白手起家建造的竹棚。
三年前，刘离开家乡贵州省下西乡，前往中国最富有的省份广东省汕头市，加入了长达数十年的全国性农村劳动力流动，这推动了中国的巨大增长，并创建了一些世界上最大的特大城市。
但作为一名初中辍学学生，刘很难找到工作。他说，由于缺乏资质，他被许多工厂拒绝了，最终找到了一份汽车修理工的工作，然后是一名建筑工人，最后是一家服装厂。
Liu says he built his home from scratch in his mountainous hometown of Xiaxixiang.
刘说，他在自己的山区家乡下西乡白手起家。
Disillusioned by the grind of city life, at the end of 2022 he decided to call it quits and return to the rolling hills and rivers of Guizhou. Liu’s parents and older brother protested the move – but he wanted a “simple life,” he said, and to escape the high-pressure rat race.
“In the factory, I used to work from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. plus overtime, my time was not my own,” Liu told CNN over the phone recently as he finished chopping up bamboo shoots. “Now I get to wake up to the sounds of birds chirping.”
他对城市生活的艰辛感到失望，在2022年底，他决定放弃，回到贵州起伏的山丘和河流。刘的父母和哥哥抗议这一举动，但他说，他想要“简单的生活”，并逃离高压的竞争。
“在工厂里，我以前从早上8点工作到晚上10点，加上加班，我的时间不是我自己的，”刘最近在切完竹笋后通过电话告诉CNN。“现在我可以在鸟叫声中醒来了。”
Liu’s frustrations reflect a growing sense of disenchantment among young people in China, many of whom face a dire job market, burnout after years of grueling academic and work pressure.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s youth unemployment rate in cities and towns hit a record-high 21.3% in June – before the government stopped releasing the uncomfortable data.
In response, authorities have encouraged urban youth to head to the countryside instead.
刘的沮丧反映出中国年轻人越来越感到失望，他们中的许多人面临着严峻的就业市场，多年来繁重的学业和工作压力后的倦怠。
根据国家统计局的数据，在政府停止发布令人不安的数据之前，中国城镇青年失业率在6月份创下了21.3%的历史新高。
作为回应，当局鼓励城市青年前往农村。
Liu, 21, grows his own food and films videos of his meals being prepared.
21岁的刘自己种植食物，并拍摄自己做饭的视频。
Authorities in Guangdong, one of China’s most densely populated provinces and a major factory hub, said earlier this year they hope to send 300,000 unemployed young people to the countryside to find work.
Living in the mountains has its challenges, as Liu discovered.
广东是中国人口最稠密的省份之一，也是一个主要的工厂中心。今年早些时候，广东当局表示，他们希望将30万失业的年轻人送到农村找工作。
正如刘所发现的，在山区生活也有挑战。
Liu lives in the mountains with his dogs and pigs.
刘和他的狗和猪住在山里。
At first, his parents worried about his safety, being alone in the woods, so they installed CCTV around the area to keep tabs on him.
Then, to solve the problem of no electricity, Liu installed numerous solar panels around the shack.
But he has also found an unconventional path to success – and a starkly different one than the farm work and blue-collar jobs Chinese authorities have encouraged urban youth to seek out.
起初，他的父母担心他的安全，因为他独自一人在树林里，所以他们在该地区安装了闭路电视来监视他。
然后，为了解决没有电的问题，刘在棚屋周围安装了许多太阳能电池板。
但他也找到了一条非传统的成功之路——这条路与中国当局鼓励城市青年寻找的农场工作和蓝领工作截然不同。
Inspired by Chinese vlogger and influencer Li Ziqi, whose videos about life in rural China have earned her 18 million subscribers on YouTube, Liu now uploads weekly vlogs of his days in the mountains.
And he isn’t alone. Dianxi Xiaoge, another Chinese food vlogger, teaches her more than 10 million YouTube subscribers how to cook healthy food from a village in southwest Yunnan province. Another pair of Gen Z “retirees,” Xiao Chun Zi and Xin Xin’s Rural Life from Sichuan province, also post content similar to Liu’s.
受中国视频博客和网红李子柒的启发，刘现在每周上传他在山区的视频博客。李子柒关于中国农村生活的视频在YouTube上获得了1800万订阅者。
他并不孤单。另一位中国美食视频博客作者Dianxi Xiaoge在云南省西南部的一个村庄教她的1000多万YouTube用户如何烹饪健康食品。另一对Z世代的“退休人员”，来自四川的小春子和辛欣的《乡村生活》，也发布了与刘相似的内容。
Liu’s videos range from him building a pig pen to his interactions with his furry companions, two dogs named Lucky and Flower. Armed with just a phone and a tripod, his one-man production begins as he works in the field to grow vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and garlic, and as he prepares mashed up sweet potatoes and ragweed for his piglets.
刘的视频从他建造猪圈到他与毛茸茸的同伴，两只名叫Lucky和Flower的狗的互动。只有一部手机和一个三脚架，他的单人制作开始于他在田里种植大白菜和大蒜等蔬菜，以及为他的小猪准备红薯泥和豚草。
Liu's videos depict him eating meals, watching television, building a pig pen and other aspects of rural living.
刘的视频描绘了他吃饭、看电视、建猪圈以及农村生活的其他方面。
He says he never feels lonely, with access to a television and his animals keeping him company. Since September, he has quickly garnered attention online, with more than 350,000 likes combined across his social media accounts.
Some online users voiced admiration, with one commenting: “He clearly knows what he’s doing, has a healthy lifestyle, unlike some other Gen Z’ers who are addicted to video games.”
Another lamented, “The 00’s are starting to retire, what about those of us born in the 80s?” – referring to Liu’s “retirement” from the traditional workforce at just 21 years old.
他说，他从不感到孤独，有电视和他的动物陪伴。自9月以来，他在网上迅速获得关注，社交媒体账户上的点赞总数超过35万。
一些网民表示钦佩，其中一人评论道：“他清楚地知道自己在做什么，有着健康的生活方式，不像其他沉迷于电子游戏的Z世代。”
另一位感叹道：“00后开始退休了，我们这些80后怎么办？”——指的是刘在21岁时从传统劳动力中“退休”。
However, some were more skeptical, “Do you have nothing to do at home? Doing all this meaningless stuff and ‘lying flat’?” a commenter wrote.
The “lying flat” movement – “tangping” in Chinese – exploded in popularity among young people in 2021, calling on them to reject social pressures to work hard, get married, have children and buy property.
Instead of endlessly laboring toward those traditional goals – which many now say offer diminishing returns – people should pursue a simple life, the philosophy suggests.
然而，一些人更持怀疑态度，一位评论者写道：“你在家无所事事吗？做这些毫无意义的事情，然后‘躺平’？”。
2021年，“躺平”运动在年轻人中大受欢迎，呼吁他们拒绝社会压力，努力工作、结婚、生子和买房。
该哲学建议，人们应该追求简单的生活，而不是无休止地为这些传统目标而努力——许多人现在认为这些目标的回报递减。
A 21-year-old vlogger in China quit his job in the city and moved back to his rural hometown to pursue a simpler life in the mountains
中国一名21岁的vlogger辞去了城市的工作，搬回农村老家，在山里过上更简单的生活
Liu has pushed back on his critics.
“Perhaps those who don’t know me would see it as a form of ‘lying flat’, but I would disagree,” he said. “I’ve built my entire home from scratch … life in the mountains isn’t that much easier than working in the city.”
To sustain his rural lifestyle, he incorporates advertising and product placement into his videos. From selling hand cream, facial cleansers to hot and sour noodles, he’s making a small income to improve his living conditions, he said.
刘回击了批评他的人。
他说：“也许那些不了解我的人会认为这是一种‘平躺’，但我不同意。”。“我从头开始建造了我的整个家……在山区的生活并不比在城市工作容易多少。”
为了维持他的乡村生活方式，他在视频中加入了广告和植入式广告。他说，从卖护手霜、洗面奶到酸辣面，他靠微薄的收入来改善生活条件。
In the future, Liu is also planning to expand his home to build a chicken pen, so he can sell meat online. And, he said, he encouraged those who wanted to move to the countryside to start their own business ventures there.
“Life in the mountains is much better than city life – even drinking water costs money in the city,” he said.
未来，刘还计划扩建他的家，建一个鸡圈，这样他就可以在网上卖肉了。他说，他鼓励那些想搬到农村的人在那里创业。
他说：“山区的生活比城市的生活要好得多，甚至在城市里喝水也要花钱。”。
