As recently as last year, Chinese state media was hailing guandan as the card game that “can get you a promotion in China”.

The country was holding open tournaments, and workers were encouraged to use it as a social and professional networking tool.

Guandan, or “throwing eggs”, is a four-person, two-team game of strategy. It has been around for decades, beginning in Jiangsu province, and was a favoured pastime of former leader Deng Xiaoping.

But now it appears to have fallen out of favour with the highly interventionist ruling Communist party – being blamed for encouraging a “passive attitude” towards work, and encouraging the formation of cliques among party cadres.

A recent run of articles in the state-run Beijing Youth Daily described guandan as intoxicating and “decadent”, warning that it was “time to control the trend of ‘laying flat’ among all guandan players”. Laying flat (tangping in Chinese) is the term given to a social trend among young people who are rejecting high-pressure jobs for an easier lifestyle, which has alarmed authorities.

  • @[email protected]
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    703 months ago

    This is totally the stop having fun meme.

    Except you’ll probably end up being thrown in a labor camp before too long. Can’t have you enjoying life, Comrade. Back to work for the next 20 hours.

    • lettruthout
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      173 months ago

      Can’t have you enjoying life

      Capitalism: “ooh… that’s my fetish.”

      • @pivot_root
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        303 months ago

        China’s flavor of “communism” is authoritarian capitalism, so that checks out.

    • @acosmichippo
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      123 months ago

      oh, I see you have made friends with similar interests eh? BANNED.

    • @fross
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      13 months ago

      Too many card games? Jail.

      Too few card games? Also jail.

      We have the best card games in the world. Because of jail.