Foreign forces promoting ‘lying flat’ to undermine China’s economy: top anti-spy agencyForeign funding is behind spread of narrative intended to erode young people’s spirit and social values, Ministry of State Security says2-MIN READ2-MIN13ListenPublished: 5:00pm, 28 Apr 2026Updated: 6:10pm, 28 Apr 2026Foreign forces are using social media to spread the notion that young Chinese people should be “lying flat” and not working hard as they seek to undermine China’s development, the country’s top anti-espionage agency has warned.The Ministry of State Security cautioned that anti-China forces were trying to magnify social anxiety by continuously “promoting negative notions” that effort was futile and hard work made no gain.The intention was to “erode the spirit of perseverance among China’s youth and even undermine the foundational values of our society”, the ministry said on its official social media page on Tuesday.Select VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS138
ENT2
TUE · 2026-04-28 · 09:00 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0428-72182
NSR-2026-0428-72182News Report·EN·National Security
Foreign forces promote ‘lying flat’ messages to undermine China’s economy: MSS
China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) has accused foreign forces of promoting the "lying flat" narrative among young Chinese people via social media. The MSS claims these external actors are intentionally spreading negative messages to erode the spirit of perseverance and undermine societal values.
Phoebe ZhangSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-04-28 · 09:00 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
138words
Sources cited
1cited
Entities identified
2entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) has accused foreign forces of promoting the "lying flat" narrative among young Chinese people via social media. The MSS claims these external actors are intentionally spreading negative messages to erode the spirit of perseverance and undermine societal values. The stated goal of these foreign forces, according to the MSS, is to weaken China's development and economy by fostering social anxiety and discouraging hard work. This warning was issued on the MSS's official social media page on Tuesday, April 28, 2026.
Confidence 0.85Sources 1Claims 3Entities 2
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
National Security
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.70 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
1
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
3 extracted01
Anti-China forces are trying to magnify social anxiety by continuously ‘promoting negative notions’ that effort was futile and hard work made no gain.
factualM Ministry of State Security
Confidence
1.00
02
The intention is to erode the spirit of perseverance among China’s youth and even undermine the foundational values of our society.
factualM Ministry of State Security
Confidence
1.00
03
Foreign forces are using social media to spread the notion that young Chinese people should be ‘lying flat’ and not working hard as they seek to undermine China’s development.
factualM Ministry of State Security
Confidence
1.00
§ 04
Full report
1 min read · 138 words§ 05
Entities
2 identifiedKey playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
Organizations1
Locations1
§ 06
Keywords & salience
8 termslying flat
1.00
undermine china's economy
0.90
ministry of state security
0.80
foreign forces
0.70
social media
0.60
erode spirit
0.50
social anxiety
0.40
foundational values
0.40
§ 07
Topic connections
Interactive graph No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.