China may be a military and economic superpower but few people give it much in the way of soft power, or broad social and cultural persuasion and appeal. So it’s ironic that China’s so-called “lying flat” movement of youthful protest may be China’s most important soft power export to the rest of the region, and the one that it would welcome the least.

“Lying flat” is a Chinese term for effectively pulling out of societal expectations.