In late august this year (2022) I happened to see this movie on YouTube: China's slacker youth
I am not an expert on Chinese philosophy by any length, but I cannot help drawing some parallels to older philosophies in China. The movie made me reflect upon how much the Chinese establishment and Socialist party reasons along the lines of Confucianism. This philosophy, or religion, is focused on rites and traditions. Loyalty and respect are deemed very important, especially respect towards your parents, the Emperor, and noblemen. Replace the Emperor with the leader of the Communist party, and noblemen with party members, and you have a situation that looks a lot like China of today. The people in China adopting the 996 culture by working from 9 am to 9 pm 6 days a week gives me the impression that they adopt many ideas from Confucianism.
But Confucianism is not the only big philosophy that has been produced in China. Another one is Taoism, or Daoism. The spelling can vary depending on whom have made the translation from the Chinese Mandarin language. In Taoism Tao is the source of everything and is the ultimate principle underlying reality. This philosophy teaches different techniques and disciplines for achieving perfection through self-cultivation. Learning from nature is regarded as important, and one ideal in Taoism is to see how water always takes the easiest way on it's way from mountain to the sea. The youth in the movie who have adapted Tai Ping (lying flat) or Bai Lan (let it rot) reminds me of Taoist ideas. It is easy to see how they feel that they cannot become a part of their society no matter what they do, and that they just like Taoists take the easiest way through life.
Both way of dealing with a harsh reality seems to be reasonable, all be it rather extreme. I guess that there are many young people who adapt both philosophies to some degree, but without doing so explicitly. If you can win in the competition, more power to you. But if you always find yourself on the loosing side, it is equally healthy to find other ways to cope with it or other things to do in order to pass your time in life.