Thread by @lillianmli

1) A highly popular 2020 chinese meme highlights anti-capitalist sentiment among Chinese white-collar workers (And enables support for anti-monopolist tech policies).

Let's talk about 打工人 aka "Labourers"

2) It all starts with a viral video in Oct on Bili Bili (read my article if you don't know what Bili bili is).

Two cartoon characters have an exchange where one bemoans the pointlessness of working hard, only for the other to rebuff his complaints with absurd zingers such as:

3) "Is it tiring to work so hard? Of course it should be tiring! Comfort is only for the rich. Go labourers!"

"Yes, working can't earn that much money but if you work a few more jobs you wouldn't have any time left to spend that money"

"Work doesn't need me, but I need work"

4) "80% of our problems comes from working but if we stopped working 100% of our problems will come from not having money"

"Work will decrease our life expectancy by 10 years, but without working we wouldn't be able to live for a single day"

bilibili.com/video/BV1jK4y1…

5) And my personal favourite: "Let's work hard so our boss can live the life he wants!"

This video currently has 3.7m views and has made the phrase labourers into a catchphrase for every type of employee with a boss.

6) Coming after years of slower economic growth and hyper employment competition, the meme struck a chord among white-collar workers who suddenly felt they were as much of a wage worker as blue-collar workers.

Slaving away for a piece of pie that wouldn't ever be theirs

7) The armchair shitposter in me wants to say this is the marxist awakening of some of the Chinese middle class. But of course, there's complexity in the term. People acknowledge the bad conditions of work, but also their need and pride for such work.

8) It's become vogue for people to refer to their stamina in the face of bad working conditions as what laborers do.

But it also subtling unites the plight of the working and middle classes and points to capitalism as the enemy.

9) My other wild speculation is that I think a lot of people got annoyed with DingTalk during lockdown. DingTalk is Alibaba's collaboration suite (and market leader in China) which which has hyper surveillance features including:

10)- Asking people to 'punch in their cards' at 9:00 (and sending a notification to their manager if they don't)
- allowing managers to see when workers were online
- read notifications
- real time GPS location for mobiles (handy when someone says they have a sick day).

11) It's usage predictably grew during lockdown and also predictably people hated it.

I can totally see why people would become anti-capitalist after having to take instructions from the notifications of a collaboration software

12) The laborer term is still going strong, I'm curious to see whether more anti-corporate policies would be passed in 2021 on the back of this sentiment while it lasts.

But again, it's just a meme so like, who knows.