[underseacables]

It’s interesting the use of the aggressive language “revenge“ And “retaliatory” which seems to have a negative charge. I wonder if it is due to the culture of China, its communist leaning, or something deeper that looks at personal leisure time as a bad thing.

[throwaway2245]

Considering that these are English language words, I don't think a linguistic analysis is going to give you insight into Chinese culture. The exact choice of words used in translation is largely going to be a reflection of the English language.

Also, what's the equivalent in other languages? In English, wouldn't we say 'self-sabotage'?

[barkingcat]

You might have misunderstood. The term that is being described here is kind of like a meme-phrase/word. Like in the article said, it was likely invented years ago, probably in the Chinese version of twitter/social media/etc.

The revenge and retaliatory terms are more subversive than negative.

The retaliation is against losing control of your own time. The revenge is against your corporate-master, your boss, the pointy-haired boss, the Communist political officer, "the Man", late stage capitalism - whatever you want to call it I don't think the sentiment is limited to China and communism, etc. and that's why this article struck a chord enough for it to get onto hnews.

That said, the subversive nature of the wording is very very Chinese. Not just Communist Chinese, but this type of subversive back-talk has been alive for many many generations since the imperial days, where you had to talk in circles in order to not be executed.

[kerblang]

Interesting that the most downvoted comment is the only one concerned with China instead of "Yeah but let's talk about me!"...

China has a culture of "labor" as the symbol of one's personal worth, and this ties into the Maoist/Communist ideal of empowering _labor_. In America, "idleness" might be the _reward_ of labor, or even a _kind_ of labor: thinking, imagining, talking, creating ideas themselves: "idle" labor. In America, physical labor is respected, but probably more _rewarded_ is one's talent for idle labor, especially nowadays. In China, the labor is its own reward, and idleness is "evil" - maybe nobody believes that anymore, but they go along with it. Furthermore, China knows that ideas are easy to steal, but labor isn't.

[prower]

If your government/culture looks at you like an ant, of course it'll judge you only by your net output.

Other than a "thank god I'm not Chinese", I'm not sure what other discussions one could have without going onto politics and being considered and anti-chinese.

I love chinese and japanese culture, but their particular work ethic is total nightmare and wrong on every level and needs to disappear as soon as possible.

EDIT: I'm currently sleep deprived (of course...) so I'm sorry if this comes out harsher than needed.

2ND EDIT: Other than that, this is not even a work ethic/culture problem, is that many current working practices are not suitable for human survival beyond basic functions. It doesn't change if you're chinese or not.

[throwaway201103]

My view of the American perspective is "be as idle as you please, but don't ask me to pay for it."