“Involution” (内卷化) has taken the Chinese internet by storm in the last two years, becoming one of the most commonly used terms online in 2020. It implies a growing sense of futility that many young ...

A Chinese mobile phone displays the icons of the messaging app Weixin, left, or WeChat, from Tencent, and Douyin, the Chinese version iteration of short video app TikTok, from ByteDance. Credit: ...

When the Chinese term first emerged in popular culture in China a few years ago, the initial application was to Chinese students and young people trapped in highly competitive schools and jobs that ...

Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. The writer is a senior adjunct researcher at the Rand Corporation’s China Research Center and senior associate ...