I only know about it from bits and pieces here and there, but it’s a large soft-style protest where they refuse to participate in the economy as much as possible. When they get a job, they do it as poorly as possible without getting in trouble. If they can not have a job somehow, then they don’t get one.

According to google, the Chinese words are pronounced Bai Lan in English.

It’s Chinese youth basically giving up on the prospect of the careers they were planning for , sometimes just staying with their parents and giving up on the job search. I think it comes from caving to too much family/societal pressure and instead adopting a “fuck this” attitude. The Chinese term is Bai lan (摆烂)

See also “tang ping” (lying flat, 躺平)

The media environment in China is murky at best so I’m honestly not sure how much of it is a real phenomenon and how much is propaganda of some sort.

*edited a typo

That was the old name. I think it’s progressed to a more complex form. I don’t really know though, I think you’d need to ask a Chinese young person, and they have their own internet so that’s not necessarily easy.