Gen Z on the labor market: Chinese people retire at the age of 21 and live in a self-built hut

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Generation Z doesn’t want to work to the point of burnout. The demands on the labor market are high. Liu Youwen (21) from China did not want to spend a third of his life working in a factory and took early retirement. Youwen now lives in a self-built bamboo hut southwest of the Chinese province of Guizhou.

That wasn’t always Youwen’s plan. He moved from the countryside to the city of Shantau, in China’s richest province. With the aim of working. But as a high school dropout, he was unattractive on the labor market.

The young man tried to work as a car mechanic, then as a construction worker, and finally in a clothing factory. But then he decided to exchange the bleak prospect of a future in the city for the real prospect of hills and rivers in nature.

He worked 14 hours a day

This obviously did not go down well with the parents. But Youwen explained that he wanted a “simple life” – rather than being trapped in the hamster wheel of the job market. “In the factory I worked overtime from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., my time was not available to me,” he said in an interview with CNN. “Now I wake up and I hear the birds chirping.”

Youwen’s parents installed cameras around his bamboo hut to keep an eye on him. It has electricity thanks to solar panels around the hut. He even has a television in his new house.

Youwen makes money with product placement

In June, China’s youth unemployment rate reached a record high of 21.3 percent. The government is therefore trying to encourage young people to move to the countryside and stimulate the economy there as farmers. But Youwen found another source of income. He makes money through product placement and advertisements. In one video, the young man, who lives in the most modest conditions, applies moisturizer to his face.

Youwen shows life in the mountains in his videos. He films how he grows Chinese cabbage and garlic and prepares sweet potato puree and herbs for his pigs. He is not lonely because the animals keep him company.

He posts videos of his life in isolation. He has 350,000 likes on his social media channels. “I built my entire house from scratch. Living in the mountains is not much easier than working in the city.” But it is better. He encourages Chinese who want to move to the countryside to start their own business. He also has plans for the future and wants to be expand house. (jwg)

Source: Blick