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A romanisation of the Chinese expression 躺平 /tǎngpíng/, pronounced as /taang-ping/. It means, literally, 'to lie flat' (tǎng=to lie down/to be recumbent; píng=flat/level). Tangping is the recumbent position that symbolises inaction and lethargy by choice (evoking the image of an idler lying comatose on their back and refusing to get up for anything or anyone), not out of pure laziness (as is symptomatic of a couch potato), but in professed resignation to, and protest of, the structural injustices of prevailing social norms that perpetuate the tail-chasing rat race and exacerbate the mismatch between efforts and rewards or the perceived paradox that hard work is penalised with dwindling returns (aka 内卷 nèijuǎn, or involution).
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