"A new word has entered the popular lexicon to describe feeling of burnout, ennui, and despair."
Charlene Gu
My Work
Involution
2022
An anthropological term, made up of the Chinese characters for “inside” and “rolling” is now widely used to describe the mentality of people who have turned apathetic by incessant competition, or the various memes people use to decry their intensely boring white-collar jobs.
Begining of the involution
2020
a student at Beijing’s élite Tsinghua University was caught on video riding his bike at night and working on a laptop propped on his handlebars.
Governing Pollution
2020
In universities, students are confused by "involution" and teachers struggle to find students who are dedicated to their studies. The dilemma at two of China's top universities is this: unveiling pretty metrics, decent success, these brightest young people in China are in extreme competition, success overwhelming growth, peers pitting themselves against each other, and exhaustion.
Cry Us a River
2014
One spins and whips oneself like a gyroscope. If you practice 996 in your company, then I practice 007. The losers fail miserably, the winners win miserably, and everyone stagnates in place together.
“GPA are king"
2020
At this top Chinese institution, where pretty metrics and decent success are unveiled, these brightest young people in China are facing a common dilemma: exhausted by the extreme competition, where success overwhelms growth and peers PK each other.
INVOLUTION
Photographed by XINYAN
ABOUT
According to anthropologists, involution refers to a process of inward over-elaboration, where population growth did not result in growth in productivity or a more advanced economic model. The buzzword initially came under the spotlight when a few pictures were published on the internet depicting students in Tsinghua University reading books while riding their bikes at night.
“Involution” does not only occur in school but also in the workplace. While the normal working hours should be 8 hours per day and 5 day per week, the “996” work schedule refers to 6 days of working from 9 AM till 9 PM per week, and this is definitely not the worst case. It is important to emphasize that their boss did not explicitly ask them to work overtime, but with limited resources, they have to join the competition and work overtime in order to survive in the brutal workplace and keep their job.