In China, Gen Z Is Turning Away from Pressure and Toward Caring Brands
A quiet shift is underway among China’s Gen Z and young millennials. They’re done chasing trends or buying into hype. Instead, they’re drawn to brands that offer something rare: emotional ease, genuine respect, and balance.
Exhausted by the relentless push to hustle, optimize, and consume with purpose, many are rejecting “bonded anxiety”—the pressure to make every purchase define their identity, signal ambition, or justify urgency. This subtle but powerful mindset shift is reshaping how brands grow.
Take Pang Donglai, a retailer with a cult following. It breaks the mold by prioritizing employee well-being with generous time off, designing calm store environments, and treating customers like people, not wallets. POP MART, known for collectible toys, creates emotional universes that re...
