Travel anywhere during one of China’s week-long national holidays, known as “Golden Week,” and you’ll find yourself swept along by what the idiom renshan renhai describes: people mountain, people sea. Over 325 million domestic trips were recorded during this year’s five-day May Day holiday alone. The wordplay 人从众𠈌, stacking the character for “person” into an ever-growing crowd, has become the standard social media caption.
Some netizens have suggested that going on a Golden Week trip is almost as exhausting as 996 work culture itself. That is especially true when workers must also put in makeup days on adjacent weekends to compensate for the time off.
I keep thinking about how travel in China became another form of optimization. “Special forces-style tourism” (特种兵旅游) saw young people accumulate tens of thousands of steps a day, checking off dozens of attractions with little sleep. Chinese media warned ahead of this year’s holiday about the health dangers: joint damage, cardiovascular risks. The backlash against this high-intensity tourism mirrors something broader. Young Chinese travelers are shifting their focus from sheer efficiency to well-being.
Now the staycation is gaining ground. Netizens have playfully dubbed it “white person-style vacations” (白人式度假), a tongue-in-cheek reference to a stereotypically relaxed, low-intensity approach. The term generally refers to any holiday that prioritizes rest over distance: a day trip, a hotel stay in your own city, or just staying at home.
Domestic hotel and tourism groups have tried to tap into this trend with immersive, resort-style experiences. But five-star hotel stays cost thousands of yuan per night. Some netizens complain such staycations are unaffordable. Others criticize the performative nature of high-end versions, which feel more aspirational than genuinely relaxing. Painstakingly staging the perfect staycation shot is not more relaxing than queuing for hours to get a 30-second photo at a tourist attraction. The over-curated staycation carries an uncomfortable tension beneath its appearance of effortlessness.
The trend has also become wearable. #StaycationOutfit has attracted 90 million views on Xiaohongshu. The style uses natural fabrics, loose silhouettes, light layering, and comfortable footwear to evoke a “holiday mood.” Xiaohongshu named it one of China’s six major spring 2026 fashion trends and featured it in the platform’s “Everyone’s Fashion Week” show in Shanghai.
For many urban Chinese youth facing unemployment stress and work burnout, wearing a staycation outfit is a more accessible way to incorporate relaxation into everyday routine. It is a way to resist the seemingly ubiquitous pressure to optimize.
But the fashion version risks falling into the same trap of performing, rather than experiencing, rest. If the outfit becomes another curated post for WeChat Moments, the rebellion is already lost.
What strikes me is that this is user-driven. Xiaohongshu amplified it, but the desire came first. Young urban Chinese are looking for a break from efficiency culture. Whether they find it in a hotel down the street or in a linen shirt on a Tuesday morning, the impulse is the same. They are tired of optimizing every hour.
I don’t know if a staycation outfit can actually make someone feel rested. But I think the fact that 90 million people are searching for it says something about what work has become.