A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

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What are Youth Nursing Homes?

Young Chinese are "retiring," tired of the hectic life

What are Youth Nursing Homes?  Young Chinese are retiring, tired of the hectic life

For years, we were taught that retirement is a goal to be achieved after decades of work and sacrifice, an objective to reach at the end of a hectic life. More recently, however, this narrative has been enriched with an even bleaker perspective for young people: the widespread belief that, for them, retirement will remain just a mirage. In China, younger generations are rewriting this narrative, transforming the chaotic and futureless life of the city into an opportunity for a tranquil existence long before old age. Millennials and Gen Z are embracing the new socio-economic trend of Youth Nursing Homes, facilities nestled in nature and away from urban centers that offer a refuge from work pressures and high living costs. If retirement won’t come to the young, the young are heading to retirement. The growing disillusionment with the future is, in fact, one of the main reasons behind this phenomenon. Low salaries, prohibitive rents, and an increasingly competitive and saturated job market are pushing young Chinese to seek alternatives to escape a system that seems to lack any future prospects. In cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the cost of living is so high that renting even a small studio apartment can take up more than half of the monthly salary. Added to this is the social pressure to build a successful career and start a family, goals that are increasingly out of reach.

In response, some young people are choosing to slow down and completely change their lifestyle, moving away from cities and seeking refuge in quieter, more accessible environments. This is where Youth Nursing Homes offer the alternative everyone is looking for: a serene environment, lower costs, and greater opportunities to achieve a proper work-life balance. In Youth Nursing Home complexes, one can find bars, restaurants, gyms, and pursue personal passions such as taking art and literature courses or gardening and doing manual work. One of the many young Chinese who chose early retirement is Su Cong, a 29-year-old from Beijing, a tech worker who gave a lengthy interview to the Los Angeles Times about life inside Youth Nursing Homes. “Apart from the morning check-ins with the Beijing office,” reads the LA Times, “[residents] organize their own schedules. They often take breaks in the afternoon for a nap or a walk around the village.” The facility also organizes “activities for residents such as painting, horseback riding, and hiking along the nearby rivers and mountains,” along with more practical experiences like gardening and farming, which allow residents to rediscover a more authentic connection with nature.

Days with a slow and mindful rhythm contrast sharply with the memory of city life, and even social interactions are cultivated through group activities like board games or shared evenings among residents, aimed at combating the growing sense of isolation and alienation that often afflicts young people in big cities. All this for about $420 per month—including room and board—a figure significantly lower than the average rent for a room in Beijing. Youth Nursing Homes thus fit into the post-pandemic trend of responding to a life overly skewed toward work. The FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) had already gained popularity in the West, promoting financial independence through a minimalist and savings-conscious lifestyle with the goal of quitting work as early as possible to enjoy life. In recent years, also in China, the concept of Tang Ping, literally “lying flat,” rejects the race for productivity at all costs and embraces a simpler lifestyle focused only on satisfying essential needs. This is reminiscent of the Western Quiet Quitting trend, though it carries a deeper and more radical meaning: a conscious rejection of a system that demands personal well-being be sacrificed for professional success.

But retreating to a Youth Nursing Home does not equate to abandoning one’s career. Nearly all residents are freelancers, professionals seeking a break, or even remote workers who, after their workday, focus on self-care rather than falling into metropolitan chaos. “For some,” the South China Morning Post reads, “the concept of ‘retirement’ serves only as a temporary retreat, and they see their stay as ‘sabbatical years or months’ along their professional journey.” Youth Nursing Homes, Quiet Quitting, FIRE, Tang Ping are just some of the responses younger generations are adopting in the face of an increasingly uncertain world, unable to offer concrete prospects for the future. The pandemic has already transformed the work culture and the way we think about tomorrow, even in Europe. How long will it be before we see “youth retirement homes” here too?