Back in April 2023, I wrote about a phrase that was everywhere on Chinese social media.

"Kong Yiji literature" (孔乙己文学 kǒng yǐ jǐ wén xué)

Kong Yiji is a fictional character from a Lu Xun (鲁迅) short story.

Kong is an educated man during the late Qing dynasty.

A drunk who considered manual work beneath him, but who was never able to pursue a scholarly career, unable to pass the national exam.

So he spent most of his time drunk in a local tavern. His demise was grim. His drinking and arrogance ended up in him being beaten to death.

In 2023, Chinese graduates were using the phrase to describe themselves: over-educated for the jobs available, under-qualified for the ones they wanted.

Two years later, the anxiety hasn't gone away.

With high levels of youth unemployment, many recent graduates are highly overqualified but unable to find work.

They are unable to remove the long gown of Kong Yiji.

无法脱下孔乙己的长衫

Read the full story from 2023 →