'Proudly stingy' Chinese youth sign up to $70-a-month food challenge

Chinese youth have gone from an era of material extravagance to counting every grain of rice. As the Chinese economy has slowed, "how-to-save" challenges on social media have gained momentum.

China's real estate crisis, high debt and shrinking population have all meant that young people especially have to survive on salaries that barely get them to the end of the month.

This rather miserable state of affairs has resulted in the "proudly stingy" movement with one trend challenging people to try feeding themselves on just 500 yuan a month ($70),  The Washington Post reports.

Photo: Instagram - 99ranchers

The money-saving challenges have become a mass phenomenon on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Instagram, where thousands of young people not only share photos of their meals, detailing the cost of each item, but also compete to see who can spend the least.

Photo: Instagram - Feeding Five Frugally

Those who manage to beat the $70 budget then try to meet the challenge of an even lower monthly allowance.

The "proudly stingy" movement signals a paradigm shift for Chinese society and the new generations who have gone from the excesses of the pre-covid era to extreme precariousness, as Asia Nikkei reported.

Where Chinese elites were once boasting about their luxury cars, designer brands, watches, jewellery and high-end lifestyles, the young now boast about bargains they have found at the supermarket.

As part of the new trend, young Chinese people also exchange tips on social media for saving strategies related to home cooking – a sort of culinary bible for the hard-up.

Photo: Instagram - Super Saving Vy Sisters

One example cited by The Washington Post of this radical change in circumstance is Xue, 28, who has gone from being a financial advisor in Shanghai and enjoying a comfortable lifestyle to looking for deals when it comes to keeping body and soul together.

From excessive consumption, there is a clear shift towards self-sufficiency and the optimization of resources with the aim of achieving greater long-term goals, such as saving up to buy a home.

The big question now is whether this "proudly stingy" movement will spread beyond China's borders with the upcoming global generations curbing their consumption and rejecting the intensely materialistic tendencies of their parents' generation.

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Photo: Instagram - Lollies Losing It