数字游民

Imagine quitting your soul-crushing 996 office job, grabbing a laptop, and writing code from a café in Chiang Mai while sipping a smoothie. That's the dream of the 数字游民. In 2024 China, the term blew up as post-pandemic burnout and youth unemployment made the nomadic freelancer lifestyle look irresistibly romantic — even if most practitioners are still figuring out how to make rent.

Against a backdrop of record youth unemployment, a sluggish post-COVID economy, and widespread disillusionment with the '996' grind culture, many young Chinese began romanticizing location-independent work. Southeast Asian hubs like Chiang Mai and Bali became pilgrimage sites. The trend intersects with 'lying flat' (躺平) philosophy but replaces passivity with the fantasy of freedom through mobility and self-directed hustle.

指利用互联网远程工作、不受地域限制、在全球各地游历生活的自由职业者群体。