Chinese youths trade city rat race for pottery
China's "Porcelain Capital" Jingdezhen is attracting droves of young people drawn to the city in search of an escape from the pressures of urban life.
Transcript
00:00 Droves of young people are flocking to Jingdezhen in China's south east, wanting to escape
00:05 the urban rat race and tired of the expensive cost of living in big cities.
00:10 "I feel less stressed.
00:13 I have friends here.
00:16 I used to stay at home when I was unemployed.
00:21 I felt more and more uncomfortable.
00:25 But after coming here, I found it easy to make friends."
00:30 The city is home to around 1.6 million people and is close to nature.
00:35 It's known as China's porcelain capital.
00:39 Young professionals are keen to learn the ancient art that has been taught here for more than a thousand years.
00:45 "There are more and more people coming to Jingdezhen.
00:50 I think it's similar to me.
00:55 First, they are not satisfied with their work.
00:59 They feel more pressure to work.
01:02 So they choose to come to the porcelain city.
01:05 The living standards here are low.
01:08 We can still live here for a year or two.
01:13 People feel like they are lying flat.
01:20 But when you lie flat, you will find that they are actively writing their CVs and managing themselves."
01:27 It's not just workers who lost their jobs that have decided to move here.
01:31 Some young urbanites with high salaries have quit their jobs.
01:35 They are prioritising work-life balance and their mental health.
01:39 A phenomenon that's come to be known in China as lying flat.
01:43 "The people who work in the big cities seem to be paid well,
01:48 but they don't have the actual money to save.
01:53 This is the biggest problem I've seen.
01:56 Another problem is that they are mentally empty.
02:00 They only know how to work and don't have a life of their own."
02:03 So what's behind this trend?
02:06 For months, youth unemployment in China was at record highs of around 20% this year.
02:12 And the government stopped releasing figures in August.
02:17 Even for those with jobs, pay is low and the economy sluggish.
02:22 So young people are turning to the pottery wheel,
02:25 focusing on life's simple pleasures, not just making money.
02:29 Some say they doubt they'll stay long term.
02:32 But at the same time, they're not sure what they will do next.
02:36 But one thing that urbanites agree on
02:38 is that they won't be going back to the grind of intense working hours in China's biggest cities.
02:45 "This slow pace of life makes me feel like I don't want to go back to work in Shenzhen."
02:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]