Livestock of the world, unite!—behind this new meme for overwork
Picture this all-too-familiar scenario: You spend an hour and a half commuting to work each way, five days a week, working overtime without pay. Half your weekends are taken up by business trips, while rare holidays get interrupted by pings from your clients, boss, and coworkers on WeChat—all needing an immediate reply, all hours of the day.
Quit? Rage against the machine? No—no choice but to put on a professional smile and carry on, because you are “社畜 (shèchù, corporate livestock),” and that’s your nature.
Originating in Japan’s bleakly subordinate business culture, this expression is a combination of the Japanese words “会社 (corporation)” and “家畜 (livestock)”: grassroots employees penned up in cubicles, working submissively, exploited and oppressed like draft animals.
Cattle Class is a story from our issue, “Wild Rides.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine. Alternatively, you can purchase the digital version from the App Store.
Sun Jiahui is a freelance writer and former editor at The World of Chinese. She writes about Chinese language, society and culture, and is especially passionate about sharing stories of China's ancient past with a wider audience. She has been writing for TWOC for over six years, and pens the Choice Chengyu column.
