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China’s youth turn to Mao Zedong Thought
Published: 05 June 2026
In Brief
Young people in China are increasingly turning to the Selected Works of Mao Zedong for strategic guidance and psychological resilience to navigate a highly competitive job market and shifting global economic landscape. As previous career expectations adjust to new realities, some youth embrace more laid-back lifestyles, while others actively draw on Mao’s dialectical philosophy to manage workplace complexities, set professional boundaries and safeguard their inner peace. This trend reflects the younger generation’s pragmatic adaptation to evolving labour–management dynamics, illustrating their earnest pursuit of agency, fair working conditions and employment stability amid profound social and economic transitions.A growing number of sources suggest that Chinese youth born in the 1990s and 2000s are increasingly looking to the Selected Works of Mao Zedong or Maoxuan, penned between 1926 and 1957, for life advice. In an age marked by turbulence and disruption worldwide, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China has once again captivated a generation for actively charting their own path.
Until recently, Mao Zedong Thought, with its focus on maintaining resilience and confidence in prolonged periods of hardship, served merely as a quiet heritage during China’s economic boom. But the trajectory of national development does not follow a strictly linear course. While China’s rapid industrial rise since the 1990s has been a remarkable success, the country’s deeper entanglement with global developments has created complexities. Beijing’s political influence is continually growing on the international stage, but it is also drawn into fierce competition with Western economies, notably the United States and the European Union, within a volatile global trade and economic network.
The contrast between the past and present global economic landscape is particularly perplexing for young professionals and university students, who grew up as witnesses to significant national accomplishments, robust international cooperation and rapid household wealth accumulation. Their career paths are clouded by uncertainty in a fracturing global network and an extremely competitive job market, with a record high of 12.7 million university graduates expected to enter the job market in 2026 alone. Degrees from elite universities are losing their magic as a means of climbing the social ladder and many graduates from these institutions are shocked to find that they must compete for pedestrian positions.
In response to these mounting pressures, Chinese youth have adopted divergent coping strategies. One prominent but harshly criticised trend is the embrace of tang ping (lying flat). This is a form of passive disengagement from the pursuit of pathways to conventional social success that holds a laid-back lifestyle as the ultimate life goal. In contrast to tang ping, a growing segment of young people in China has chosen to ‘stay on the battlefield’. Among this cohort, the Selected Works of Mao Zedong have seen an unexpected resurgence in relevance and popularity.
Mao’s Selected Works appeals to young people primarily as a source of psychological resilience and practical wisdom. Concepts originally framed around ‘self-defence’ are reinterpreted by today’s youth as the importance of setting healthy boundaries. Mao’s dialectical approach also serves as a grounding manual for navigating professional environments. For some young people, Mao’s philosophy of persistent determination and inevitable triumph through endurance provides a form of psychological reinforcement. Mao’s modest background and tumultuous life story — from a humble teacher to overcoming repeated military and political setbacks — is a framework that legitimises struggle as a normal and ultimately surmountable aspect of life.
While the revival interest of Maoism underscores the resilient attitude of China’s younger generation, its broader implications should be noted. Veneration of Mao’s Selected Works may be seen by some as a manifestation of a greater desire to be understood. Young people’s desire for a fair and honest working and living environment is becoming central to their professional aspirations. The primary concern among Chinese youth is not temporary career hurdles, but the normalisation of chronic insecurity. If an entire generation internalises a strained labour–management dynamic as an inevitable aspect of professional life, the long-term societal impact will be profound.
Job seekers are shifting their preference to the public sector and state-owned institutions where a favourable reputation has accumulated over time. This is not merely for stability or protection against unexpected job market fluctuations. It is also because public institutions adhere strictly to state regulations during unforeseen personal crises. For similar reasons, most foreign enterprises are highly favoured in China. They reliably guarantee basic employee benefits and are generally more open to hiring individuals with arbitration records because they face rigorous supervision.
While the government has earned the trust of many young people and their parents through years of practical action — particularly by building accessible and credible channels for defending rights, reporting illegal conduct and pursuing social justice — even the best system cannot prevent the overwhelming concern felt by individuals amid profound shifts in the broader environment.
Most young people are still trying to digest their academic and professional issues internally and attempting to resolve problems by playing by the system’s rules. Mao’s spiritual guidance may serve these young people well. But for others engaging with Mao, the actual tactics they employ to solve their problems are far from praiseworthy. This shift underscores the urgent need for more robust social support for students and junior professionals in China.
In a globally shrinking economic space, resources have become objectively scarce. Consequently, the younger generation must diligently carve out recognition and independence within a fiercely competitive environment. The burden of navigating this new reality has become increasingly heavy, inflicting physical and psychological damage on many. Yet, while this manifests as profound exhaustion from long-term hypervigilance and a reluctance to pass these burdens on to the next generation, it has also forged in them a philosophical exploration of Chinese political wisdom.
The generation that was once sheltered by the placid global climate is struggling for a decent foothold. Not with swords and shields but with their will and minds based on a 100-year-old playbook.
