[News Terms] Youth Unemployment Sweeping China: 'Lanweiwa'

A term referring to highly educated unemployed youth in China
An expression likening them to apartments left abandoned due to halted construction
Significant increase in graduate school enrollment amid tightening job market

Youth unemployment is not just a problem in Korea. In China, which is experiencing the worst youth unemployment issue, a new term called ‘Lanweiwa (爛尾娃)’ has emerged. ‘Lanweiwa’ refers to highly educated young unemployed people or low-wage workers in China. Lanwei (爛尾) means ‘something ending badly’ in Chinese, and wa (娃) means ‘child’ or ‘kid’.

In February, university students attended a job fair in Wuhan, China. [Photo by AFP Yonhap News]

This term originated from ‘Lanweilou (爛尾樓).’ ‘Lou (樓)’ means ‘multi-story building’ in Chinese. Thus, Lanweilou refers to a ‘building with a bad ending,’ ‘unfinished building,’ or ‘abandoned apartment.’ It generally describes buildings like apartments that have been left unfinished or abandoned for over a year.

Lanweiwa metaphorically compares these abandoned or unsold apartments to young people who, despite having received higher education, are ‘unsold children’ or ‘children with a bad ending,’ carrying a negative connotation. Lanweiwa are those who, after graduating from university, fail to find jobs or give up job hunting altogether and rely on their parents’ financial support. This is similar to the ‘Tangpingzu (?平族),’ Chinese youth who give up on marriage, employment, and home ownership and just lie down, but differs in that Lanweiwa are highly educated unemployed individuals.

Lanwei is derived from 'Lanweilou (爛尾樓)'. Lanweilou means 'a building with a bad ending', 'a house with poor finishing', or 'an unfinished apartment'. It generally refers to buildings such as apartments where construction has been halted and left abandoned for more than a year. [Image source=Getty Images]

Last year, when China’s youth unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 hit a record high of 21.3%, the Chinese authorities stopped releasing the statistics. From December of that year, they changed the calculation method by excluding current students from the statistics. However, in August this year, the youth unemployment rate reached 18.8%, the highest since the change in statistical methods.

As job opportunities narrow, more Chinese youth are postponing graduation and enrolling in graduate school. According to Chinese media Yicai Caijing, last year, 1,301,700 new graduate students were admitted nationwide, a 61% increase compared to 806,100 in 2017, six years earlier. Among them, doctoral candidates numbered 153,300, up 82% from 83,900 in 2017, and master’s candidates reached 1,148,400, a 59% surge from 722,200 in 2017. However, even graduate school graduates find it difficult to secure jobs, leading some universities, including Guangxi Normal University, to extend the usual two-year master’s program to three years.

[Photo by Akyung DB]

To address the increasingly severe youth unemployment problem, Chinese authorities have taken measures. On the 25th of last month, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council (central government) announced the ‘Opinions on Implementing Employment-First Strategy and Promoting High-Quality Full Employment,’ presenting youth unemployment countermeasures.

The party and government classified youth, including university graduates, discharged soldiers, rural workers, and impoverished groups, as ‘key groups’ for employment support. They emphasized the leading role of state-owned enterprises, the backbone of the economy, and pledged to expand stable jobs through financial support, tax benefits, financial aid, and social security. They also issued guidelines to provide certain social insurance subsidies to those who find flexible employment within two years after graduation.

Besides Lanweiwa, there are various other new terms reflecting the reality of Chinese youth. ‘Biyexijiu (畢業?失業)’ means ‘graduation equals unemployment.’ ‘Kenlaozu (?老族)’ is the Chinese equivalent of ‘Kangaroo generation,’ referring to adult children who rely solely on their elderly parents’ financial support. The term ‘45-degree life (45度人生)’ reflects the confused psychological state of Chinese youth who find it hard to rise vertically at 90 degrees despite struggling hard, yet feel anxious about their future if they give up and roll at 0 degrees on the bottom, so they feel compelled to do something.