Young people in China are fangirling over a professor who gets their anxiety

What the report says

BBC World News reports that Biao Xiang, a 54-year-old anthropologist who now leads the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Germany, has become an unexpected public figure among anxious young Chinese people. In talks and interviews, including a recent gathering in Singapore that drew about 500 attendees, Xiang discusses stress, uncertainty and the social pressures facing China’s Gen Z.

The article says many young people in China are struggling with weak job prospects, intense competition, long working hours and pressure to achieve the expected milestones of a good degree, stable work, marriage and home ownership. BBC says some of Xiang’s ideas, such as his descriptions of “floating” and “the nearby,” are resonating with readers because they frame personal distress as part of wider economic and social change rather than an individual failing.

Xiang, who was born in 1972 and grew up in Wenzhou during China’s period of rapid reform, argues that the country is at a turning point. He says the old formula that hard work guarantees security no longer feels reliable to many young adults. The BBC notes that discussions of youth anxiety can be sensitive in China, where online criticism is often constrained, which may help explain why a professor speaking plainly about the topic has attracted an unusually devoted following.

More broadly, the piece suggests Xiang’s popularity reflects a search for language and reassurance at a time when economic slowdown, censorship and uncertainty are shaping public mood.