What does it mean to come of age in a society where the paths to adulthood are increasingly uncertain, yet the pressure to succeed remains relentless? In today’s China, youth navigate the fading promise of reform-era mobility, the grind of economic slowdown, and a moralising narrative that glorifies hardship. Two expressions have come to define this generational mood: neijuan (内卷, ‘involution’), the feeling of being trapped in endless competition with little reward, and tangping (躺平, ‘lying flat’), a quiet refusal to play by those rules. In response to these pressures, young people are experimenting with new ways of living, working, and imagining the future, even as that future grows more precarious. This issue of Made in China Journal explores how these dynamics unfold across schools, homes, workplaces, digital platforms, and creative spaces. Rather than casting youth as rebels or victims, the contributions examine the everyday strategies and compromises that define life under constraint.