{"version":1,"tree":{"n":"html","c":[{"n":"head","x":"\n ","l":"\n ","c":[{"n":"title","x":"Desconocido","l":"\n \n "},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../stylesheet.css"]]},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../page_styles.css"]]}]},{"n":"body","a":[["class","calibre"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"| ","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Siguiente","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articlenextlink"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_11/article_2/index_u89.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_11/index_u35.html\", \"frag\": \"article_1\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_11\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Anterior","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articleprevlink"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_11/article_0/index_u6.html\", \"frag\": \"\", \"missing\": true}"]]},{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]}]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"Toil and struggle ","a":[["class","calibre8"]]},{"n":"h1","x":"Xi Jinping glorifies hard work, but the young are not so sure","a":[["class","calibre9"]]},{"n":"div","x":"Cynicism at home is becoming a problem","a":[["class","calibre19"]]},{"n":"p","x":"may. 08, 2025 01:50 ","a":[["class","calibre10"]]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"img","a":[["src","images/img1_u28.jpg"],["title","Ceremony to honor model workers and exemplary individuals at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing"],["class","calibre3"],["data-calibre-src","feed_11/article_1/images/img1_u28.jpg"]]}]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre11"]]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"E","a":[["data-caps","initial"],["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"span","x":"VERY FIVE","l":" years China names hundreds of people as “national model workers”. The latest to receive the honour gathered on April 28th at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People where the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, urged them to “struggle, struggle, struggle to the end”. He avoided any mention of tariffs brought in by America’s president, Donald Trump, but his use of the old Communist rallying cry was clearly intended to show how people should respond. Amid a trade war that could threaten millions of jobs in China, the message is clear: keep your noses to the grindstone and blame any pain on America.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Some workers may wince. An increasing number complain about how hard they are expected to toil. The infamous “996” work ethic—9am to 9pm, six days a week—has spawned an online drop-out counter-culture known as ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"i","x":"tangping","l":", or “lying flat” (though some may not practise what they preach). Workers complain of ","a":[["class","calibre18"]]},{"n":"i","x":"neijuan","l":", the idea of spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere. If there is a struggle going on, for some it is just getting out of bed.","a":[["class","calibre18"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Officials have tried to show sympathy with burned-out staff. In July last year the ruling Politburo denounced business approaches which led to ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"i","x":"neijuan ","l":"and its associated stresses. This year several big companies have introduced measures aimed at limiting time spent at work.","a":[["class","calibre18"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"But Chinese media still love a good story of absurdly hard toil. The internet has been flooded recently by one such tale concerning a bricklayer called He Jilin, who reportedly managed to save 2m yuan ($275,000) after nine years of work. Several tabloids described how Mr He used this money to build a two-storey mansion for his family in a village in Sichuan province. Since mid-April, when news of Mr He’s story broke, posts with related hashtags on Weibo, a microblog platform, have attracted tens of millions of views and thousands of comments.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"While some netizens have attacked Mr Trump’s tariffs, others have heaped scorn on the story of Mr He’s struggles (working 5am to 9pm, with few days off, has left him with a chronic back injury). “Don’t romanticise others’ pain—they suffer not to inspire you, but because they had no choice,” said one user on Weibo, referring to Mr He’s case. “How many future million-yuan hospital bills are waiting for him?” wrote another. “Sounds like a made-up story designed to glorify labour until we drop dead,” a third weighed in. Mr He has responded modestly, telling media he regrets not having studied harder at school.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Mr Xi does not want Chinese youngsters to take up bricklaying in order to get rich. Speaking to the model workers, he said the country needed people who were “knowledgeable, skilled and innovative”. But he sticks to old-style rhetoric. Among Chinese “the spirit of hard work, unity and relentless striving will never change,” he said. While fighting America, Mr Xi may struggle to defeat cynicism at home. ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"■"}]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"i","x":"Subscribers can sign up to ","a":[["class","calibre18"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Drum Tower","l":", our new weekly newsletter, to understand what the world makes of China—and what China makes of the world.","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/newsletters/drum-tower"],["target","_blank"]]}]}]}]},{"n":"div","x":"\n","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]},{"n":"p","x":"This article was downloaded by ","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre16"]],"c":[{"n":"strong","x":"calibre","l":" from ","a":[["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"a","x":"https://www.economist.com/china/2025/05/08/xi-jinping-glorifies-hard-work-but-the-young-are-not-so-sure","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/china/2025/05/08/xi-jinping-glorifies-hard-work-but-the-young-are-not-so-sure"],["rel","calibre-downloaded-from"]]}]},{"n":"br","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"br","l":" | ","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_11/index_u35.html\", \"frag\": \"article_1\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_11\"}"]]}]}]}]},"ns_map":["http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"]}