How Gen Z spends its time in China

Last week, China’s top media regulators rolled out a directive prohibiting “sissy idols and other deformed aesthetics.” Their targets were the highly stylised, gender-bending young men who’ve defined Chinese pop culture for more than a decade. In the eyes of President Xi Jinping, these celebrities pose a threat to the masculine revitalisation of the Chinese nation. Like cram schools, celebrity fan clubs and video games — all banned or restricted in recent months — they’ve become another victim of Xi’s push to build a patriotic younger generation in his image.
Such a cold-blooded cultural cull creates a dilemma, however. What are China’s teenagers to do with their time now that they can’t follow their favourite celebrities, play video games or grind away in nightly tutoring sessions? The government hopes that they’ll use that extra time to engage in physical activity and indulge in the study of
“Xi Jinping thought” (now part of primary-school curriculums).
Yet it’s unlikely that these aspirations will be realised even in part. China’s teenagers, like those everywhere, have their own ideas.
Forty years ago, the very idea of a “youth culture” was alien to a hard-working, mostly agrarian society. It was only with affluence that free time emerged, and even that was circumscribed by
ambitious families who viewed rigorous academic study as sacrosanct. In urban China, a typical secondary-school day runs nine hours, plus another two for private tutoring.
After time for dinner and family, it’s on to homework, which can take hours more. Unsurprisingly, researchers have often found that Chinese children are severely sleep-deprived.
Added to these pressures are some newer ones, including the demands that global consumer culture places on young people. As state media likes to note, Generation Z, the cohort born between 1995 and 2010, is the most affluent in Chinese history.
In fact, China’s Gen Z kids outspend their counterparts in other parts of the world — according to one survey, they account for a larger share of total household spending (at 13%) than their peers in the US (4%) and Britain (3%).

—Bloomberg