Pretend Work Is Booming in China
In China’s major cities, a strange new economy is thriving. Young people are paying daily fees to sit at
In China’s major cities, a strange new economy is thriving. Young people are paying daily fees to sit at desks, sip coffee, and maintain the illusion of employment while actually doing nothing at all. Welcome to the world of pretend work, where unemployment has spawned an entire industry dedicated to keeping up appearances.
For just 30 to 50 yuan (roughly $4 to $7) per day, young Chinese people can rent a desk in a fake office complete with Wi-Fi, coffee, and the comforting hum of pretend productivity. Some premium packages even let you pose as the boss in a plush leather chair for those all-important family photos. One service in Hebei province offers the full experience from 10am to 5pm, lunch included, for less than the cost of a fancy coffee.
When Saving Face Costs Money
In a culture where unemployment carries serious social stigma, these fake offices are solving a very real problem. Chinese society’s emphasis on “face” means admitting you’re jobless to your parents can feel worse than actually being unemployed. So why not just… not admit it?
The trend has exploded across social media with the hashtag #IPretendedToGoToWorkToday racking up millions of views. Young people are documenting their days of professional make-believe, turning unemployment into content creation. Some are getting creative, turning libraries and internet cafes into their personal “offices” while job hunting or studying for competitive civil service exams.
“His goal is to give people a place to feel like they belong, even if they are currently between jobs,” explains one fake office entrepreneur. It’s therapy disguised as workspace rental.
From Lying Flat to Playing Pretend
This isn’t China’s first youth rebellion against impossible expectations. The movement has evolved from “tang ping” (lying flat) where young people simply gave up trying, to “bai lan” (let it rot) where they stopped caring entirely. Now pretend work represents a middle path: keeping up appearances while quietly opting out of the rat race.
The progression tells a story. First, young Chinese rejected the brutal “996” culture of working 9am to 9pm, six days a week. When lying flat got too much government criticism, they found a more palatable form of resistance. Why drop out when you can fake it?
The Numbers Don’t Lie (Even If the Workers Do)
Behind the quirky headlines lies a genuine crisis. Youth unemployment hit 16.5% in March 2025, and that’s the sanitized government figure that excludes students. The real number? Some experts estimate it could reach 46.5% when you include young people living with parents or hiding in graduate school to avoid the job market.
This year alone, 11.79 million university graduates entered an already saturated job market. They’re competing not just with each other, but with last year’s unemployed graduates who are still looking for work. Major employers like Tesla, IBM, and ByteDance have been cutting jobs, while the collapse of China’s property market eliminated another traditional source of employment.
The government got so embarrassed by the unemployment figures that they stopped publishing them for six months in 2023 after youth joblessness hit a record 21.3%. When they resumed reporting, they quietly changed the methodology to make the numbers look better.
The Business of Fake Business
What started as a desperate coping mechanism has evolved into a legitimate industry. Some fake offices are actually livestreaming company studios capitalizing on the trend to fill empty workspace. Others offer flexible daily rates for real entrepreneurs who can’t afford traditional office leases.
One particularly creative operation sits on a farm outside Beijing among vegetable greenhouses. The owner was inspired by reading about unemployment during Japan’s economic development and decided to offer both workspace for office workers and “a temporary place of rest for the unemployed.”
These spaces serve multiple functions. Sure, some people are just deceiving their families, but others are using them as affordable alternatives to expensive cafes for job hunting or skill development. The structured environment helps maintain daily routines that unemployment can destroy, making pretend work surprisingly productive.
Government Panic Mode
Beijing is not amused. State media has called the lying flat movement “shameful,” and President Xi Jinping himself has criticized young people for “avoiding involution and lying flat.” The rise of pretend work services represents a new headache for authorities who need youth engagement to drive economic growth.
The government promises to create over 12 million urban jobs in 2025 while keeping unemployment around 5.5%. But with the overall jobless rate already at 5.1%, these targets look optimistic at best. The real challenge isn’t just creating jobs, but creating jobs that educated young people actually want to do.
When Your Diploma Becomes Decoration
This generation is the most educated in Chinese history, yet they’re finding fewer opportunities that match their qualifications. A diploma from a good university used to guarantee entry to the “Chinese Dream” of stable employment, homeownership, and upward mobility. Now it often guarantees nothing except student debt and family pressure.
The cultural shift is profound. Traditional markers of success like marriage, children, and property ownership seem increasingly impossible when housing prices have skyrocketed while wages stagnated. Young people are redefining success, and sometimes that means success is just successfully avoiding your parents’ questions about your career.
The 996 work culture that once symbolized dedication now represents exploitation. When Alibaba founder Jack Ma famously called 996 “a blessing,” young workers responded with their own blessing: lying flat. Deaths from overwork at companies like Pinduoduo have only reinforced the rejection of hustle culture.
The Psychology of Professional Pretending
What makes pretend work fascinating isn’t just the economics, but the psychology. These fake offices provide structure, routine, and most importantly, dignity. Going somewhere every day, dressing professionally, and maintaining the rituals of employment can preserve mental health during job searches.
“The increasing visibility of jobless young people increases broader social acceptance and reduces stigma surrounding unemployment,” notes Columbia University researcher Lu Li. By normalizing the unemployment experience, these spaces might actually help people cope better with job market realities.
For many, it’s not really about deception at all. It’s about buying time and space to figure out their next move without constant family pressure or social judgment.
The Future of Fake Work
Critics worry that normalizing pretend work could reduce pressure for real economic reforms. Why fix the job market when people can just pretend to participate in it? But supporters argue these services provide valuable breathing room for young people navigating an impossible situation.
The trend reflects broader global patterns. From Japan’s “freeter” culture to America’s “quiet quitting,” young people worldwide are rejecting traditional career expectations. China’s version just happens to involve more elaborate performance art.
As one fake office client philosophically noted: “If we have indeed entered garbage time, then young people could accumulate skills or do something creative.” Maybe pretending to work is just another form of creative expression.
The fake office boom ultimately represents something uniquely human: when faced with impossible circumstances, people get creative about survival. In a society obsessed with appearances, these young entrepreneurs have figured out how to monetize the appearance of productivity itself.
Whether this represents social decay or social innovation probably depends on your perspective. But one thing is certain: when reality becomes unworkable, sometimes the most rational response is to fake it until you make it. Or at least until something better comes along.
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