Young people in China are becoming more rebellious, questioning their nation’s traditional expectations of career and family
That is what I mean when I say there is no exact translation.
摆烂 doesn’t mean see the system collapse, merely displaying the lack of interest to participate. So the speaker is displaying the 烂 (bad attitude, rot), not the system. I believe 摆烂 is more akin to “civil disobedience” or “quit quitting”, than “let it rot” (if anything, it is closer to the literal meaning of “let me rot”).
I want to make it more clear in my original comment, but I was afraid it would be too verbose and distract the reader.
I also read that as “quiet quitting”. Would you try to translate that from English to Chinese could cause all kinds of linguistic issues.
