Chinese cities fight lying flat mentality with ‘snail awards’ for poor workers

Several Chinese cities are awarding a “snail award” to sluggish cadres among their measures to eliminate a “lying flat” mentality among workers, after repeated calls for greater diligence by President Xi Jinping and Chinese disciplinary authorities.

In the eastern city of Taizhou in Jiangsu province, a snail award has been given to workers who do not address concerns from the public in a timely manner – including fixing a government website, changing a road lamp and demolishing an unapproved building structure – the official People’s Daily reported on Sunday.

Some cities have researched and compiled a list of traits considered lying flat, meaning doing the bare minimum to get by. In Kunming, in southern China’s Yunnan province, the list includes being “complacent with the status quo, fear of taking responsibility, procrastination and low work standards”.

Most choose to punish cadres showing these traits. In September, Zhanjiang’s Mazhang district government in Guangdong province demoted eight cadres. In Jiangsu’s Taizhou and Guizhou’s Zunyi, those who received the “snail award” received poor annual evaluations and a lower bonus.

Some cities have set up positive examples to encourage workers. In Taizhou, authorities set up a “horse award” for those deemed efficient, and in Hanshou county in the central Hunan province, there is a public cadre image contest that celebrates the “diligent worker”.

The “lying flat cadre” phenomenon has been repeatedly raised by Xi and disciplinary authorities as a sign that officials love to seek comfort and enjoyment.

In January last year, Xi delivered a speech at the second plenum of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China’s top corruption watchdog, stressing the need to maintain a trailblazing spirit among officials and saying that many cadres, untested by hardship, had become weak.