China is launching a campaign to keep Killjoys out of the Internet

The Chinese government aims for an emotion which has become too common on the discouragement of the country.

This week, the Chinese Cyberspace administration launched a two -month campaign to limit publications on social networks which “exaggerately exaggerate negative and pessimistic feelings”. The objective, according to the authorities, is to “rectify negative emotions” and “create a more civilized and rational online environment”.

In the reticle, there are stories like “studying is useless” and “hard work is useless”, as well as stories that promote “world clothes”.

China is struggling with an economic slowdown in the wake of a real estate crisis, high unemployment of young people and reduced competition for admission to colleges and jobs – all of which gave birth to a feeling of disillusionment among its young generation.

Young people in China “have serious questions about the future prospects of their life” and “have to face the fact that their livelihood will most likely be worse than the generation of their parents,” Simon Sihang Luo, assistant professor of social sciences at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, said at the BBC.

And Beijing’s anxiety in the face of bubbling frustration has been shown in a wave of sanctions hitting influencers and social media platforms in the country.

Last week, the well -known content creator Hu Chenfeng made his social media accounts rubbed with all messages. No one knows why because Chinese officials have given no explanation. But it is greatly believed that it was in response to a viral comment that he had recently made, classifying people and articles like “Apple” or “Android” – with the latter used to describe things that are lower than the first.

“Yours is a typical Android logic, an Android person, an Android qualification,” he rocked during a live broadcast which has since been widely shared online.

While the gag was quickly adopted by many Chinese social media users, others have accused Hu of sowing social divisions.

Evident jokes on inequalities, it seems, have become a delicate territory-because they strengthen the divisions on which the Chinese Communist Party prefers that people would not linger.

Censorship is not new to the Chinese Internet. Anything that suggests party criticism, its leaders, or tackles controversial subjects that have political implications, disappears quickly.

What is unusual in this campaign against pessimism is that it seems to target a range of online behaviors that could create or add a feeling of negativity.

Zhang Xuefeng, a famous online tutor known for his fiery rhetoric on education and social issues, aroused controversy earlier this month when he is committed to giving at least 100 million Chinese Yuan ($ 14 million; 10.4 million pounds sterling) if Beijing decided to invade Taiwan. But it was only this week that he became the target of Chinese censors.

His social media accounts – which have millions of followers – were prevented from winning new subscribers, local media reported on Wednesday.

Asked about this, one of Mr. Zhang’s employees told a newspaper belonging to public property that he “thought”.

Again, it is difficult to know why he is reprimanded, but some wondered if it was the underlying message of his shows – in an unjust world, you have to make only practical choices. And many students and parents follow him for his brutally honest advice – instead of telling young people to follow their dreams, he often told them that they had to face the reality that their exam scores and their financial pressures dictate. It was a platform that could well be ideal for discouragement.

They are not only individuals. China wants social media platforms to also play a role in its solid internet cleaning.

This month, the cyberspace administration said that it would have succeeded in “strict punishment” against Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou and Weibo social media applications for not slowing down “negative” content, such as “sensationalist” personal updates of celebrities “and other” trivial information “.

“A clear and healthy cyberspace is in the interest of the people,” said the cyberspace administration.

But any attempt to maintain the abnormally sunny Chinese cyberspace is sure at a cost.

“The expression of pessimistic feelings does not necessarily mean a fundamental rejection of labor market participation and society as a whole,” said Dr. Luo.

But being deprived of “help after having evacuated these feelings”, he says, “could worship even more for their collective mental status”.

However, pressures – those that push more young Chinese to leave the rats race, “lie flat” and eliminate their frustrations online – remain. Many of them have returned to their parents’ houses, unable to find work or want a break in exhausting jobs – he occurs enough to be called “full -time” children.

And recent research shows that there is effectively growing pessimism on future prospects in China. Experts say that the party is well aware of it, which is why he tries to repress evidence. But will it work?

“If anything, contemporary Chinese history has repeatedly shown that descending ideological campaigns can hardly eradicate the social roots of problems,” said Dr. Luo.

“Even with a powerful government like the Chinese one, it is difficult to stop the feelings of pessimists when the economy seems dark, the labor market is cruelly competitive and the birth rate hits the bottom of the rocks.”