Why Gen Z Culture Is Basically Medieval China

SUMMARY

John from Medieval Mindset presents a video essay drawing parallels between Gen Z's vibes-based culture, third spaces, looksmaxxing, and individualism to the Song and Ming Dynasties in medieval China, suggesting history's repetition.

STATEMENTS

• Younger generations prefer spending on experiences over material goods, reflecting a desire for third spaces beyond home and work, such as bars or tea houses that have become scarce or expensive.
• The Song Dynasty pioneered lifestyle culture in urban design, emphasizing pleasure, snacking, and nighttime entertainment, much like modern downtown areas.
• Meng Yuanlao's 12th-century memoir describes the vibrant, 24-hour social scenes of Kaifeng, including tea houses, performers, and diverse restaurant ordering, evoking contemporary nightlife.
• Gen Z's curated living, with aesthetics like cozy games and iced matcha walks, mirrors the Song scholar-gentleman's ideal where status derives from refined taste rather than just wealth.
• Traditional Chinese medicine trends on TikTok, such as qigong and hot water drinking, indicate a resurgence of ancient practices among Western youth.
• Looksmaxxing, including extreme methods like bonesmashing, parallels Song Dynasty class-based physical refinements: scholars aimed for pale, slender features, while warriors focused on bone density through training.
• Internal alchemy (neidan) in medieval China involved cultivating chi, jing, and shen for physical and spiritual enhancement, akin to Gen Z's "locking in" for personal goals like fitness or side hustles.
• The body as an unbuyable status symbol underscores modern fitness obsessions, where physique signals discipline and moral victory, similar to neidan practitioners' radiance as soul cultivation proof.
• Late Ming Dynasty saw a shift to individualism, with identities defined by personal quirks over clan or profession, foreshadowing Gen Z's label-driven self-identities amid systemic complexity.
• Song Dynasty wazi pleasure precincts, unregulated zones for vice like gambling, resemble the internet's role in enabling anonymous indulgence, fostering brotherhoods that threatened social order and mirror digital radicalization.

IDEAS

• Gen Z's craving for third spaces revives Song Dynasty urban pleasures, turning cities into experiential hubs rather than mere functional zones.
• Curated aesthetics in modern life echo the scholar-gentleman's taste-driven status, shifting cultural capital from corporate cool to niche, self-created vibes.
• Bonesmashing as looksmaxxing has ancient roots in warrior class bone-strengthening rituals, highlighting timeless male insecurities about physical presence.
• Neidan's internal alchemy prefigures "locking in" as a disciplined forge of inner energies into outward excellence, blending body and soul in self-improvement cults.
• Late Ming individualism sparked identity crises through hyper-specific labels, paralleling Gen Z's neurodivergent, hyperfixated self-definitions in a fragmented society.
• Wazi districts functioned as medieval "safe havens" for vice, much like Discord servers today, where gambling evolves from dice to apps, amplifying desperation.
• Failed imperial exams in Song China (1% pass rate) drove youth to gambling brotherhoods, just as economic disillusionment pushes moderns toward meme coins and parlays.
• Medieval elixirs with mercury for longevity mirror modern peptides and GLP-1s, both risky hacks to transcend biological limits for superior states.
• Physical appearance in hierarchical Song society coded class invisibility, fueling insecurities that persist in today's rating scales and enhancement techniques.
• Global tech scales medieval vices exponentially, turning personal lapses into life-ruining addictions, as patterns of history repeat on a vast, institutional level.

INSIGHTS

• Cultural revivals like third spaces reveal humanity's cyclical need for communal pleasure amid isolation, bridging ancient urban innovations to digital-era longings.
• Looksmaxxing's extremes underscore a universal pursuit of bodily agency in stratified societies, where refinement signals not just beauty but belonging and power.
• Internal discipline practices, from neidan to locking in, abstract self-improvement as alchemical transformation, proving physical form as a canvas for inner virtue.
• Individualism's rise in late Ming, like Gen Z's, signals societal maturity toward self-expression but risks fragmentation, inviting resets through external crises.
• Pleasure precincts and online spaces democratize vice yet intensify isolation, transforming social shame into anonymous ruin and breeding loyalty to subcultures over institutions.
• Economic failures breed fringe pursuits like gambling, abstracting desperation as rational rebellion against broken meritocracies, from imperial exams to gig economies.

QUOTES

• "When the guests arrive, a single person holding chopsticks and a menu questions all of the seated guests. The men of the capital are extravagant and they demand a hundred different things."
• "Your body betrays your degeneracy."
• "Young men are abandoning the plow and the book to chase the flip of the die."
• "Time is a flat circle and we're essentially repeating the patterns of the past over and over again."
• "The past isn't gone. It's simply waiting to be rediscovered."

HABITS

• Engaging in qigong or drinking hot water daily to align with traditional Chinese medicine for holistic health.
• Locking in by eliminating distractions to focus intensely on personal goals like fitness or side hustles.
• Hitting sandbags or poles regularly to build bone density and physical resilience, as practiced by Song warriors.
• Curating daily aesthetics, such as walks with iced matcha, to cultivate refined taste and vibes-based living.
• Using elixirs or supplements cautiously for longevity, drawing from ancient formulas while monitoring risks.

FACTS

• The Song Dynasty's imperial exam had only a 1% pass rate, pushing many youths toward alternative paths like gambling.
• Kaifeng's wazi districts operated 24 hours with suspended rules, fostering prostitution and gambling akin to modern unregulated online zones.
• Late Ming individualism emerged in the 17th century, defining identities by quirks like incense connoisseurship rather than profession.
• Sun Simiao's 7th-century text treated the body as a chemical system balanced by substances, similar to European four humors theory.
• Jacques Gernet documented how Song appearances coded class in a hierarchical society, making mismatched looks culturally invisible.

REFERENCES

• Meng Yuanlao's The Record of a Dream of Splendor at the Eastern Capital (12th-century memoir on Kaifeng life).
• Sun Simiao's Essential Formulas Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces (7th-century medical manual for longevity).
• Jacques Gernet's Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276 (20th-century study of Song culture).
• Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian (Song historiography critiquing youth vices).

HOW TO APPLY

• Identify your third spaces by seeking affordable communal areas like local cafes or parks to combat isolation and foster experiences over possessions.
• Adopt locking in routines by scheduling distraction-free blocks daily for goals, incorporating neidan-inspired meditation to balance inner energies.
• Refine looksmaxxing safely through evidence-based methods like diet and exercise, avoiding extremes like bonesmashing while drawing from TCM for holistic refinement.
• Combat individualism's pitfalls by broadening self-labels to include community roles, preventing hyper-specific boxes from isolating you.
• Approach gambling temptations mindfully by recognizing economic desperation's role, opting for skill-building investments over risky parlays to build long-term security.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Gen Z's cultural trends echo medieval China's cycles of pleasure, refinement, and vice, urging historical awareness to navigate modern repetitions wisely.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Study historical memoirs like Meng Yuanlao's to appreciate urban vibes' ancient roots and inspire curated modern living.
• Integrate safe TCM practices, such as qigong, into routines for balanced self-improvement without risky elixirs.
• Foster third spaces in communities to revive Song-style lifestyle culture, prioritizing experiences amid economic pressures.
• Reflect on individualism's dangers by engaging in group activities, countering late Ming-like identity crises with collective purpose.
• Monitor online indulgences like gambling apps, learning from wazi brotherhoods to prioritize systemic reforms over fringe escapes.

MEMO

In the bustling glow of 2026's social feeds, Gen Z's pursuit of "vibes" feels utterly contemporary—think aesthetic city strolls with iced matcha or cozy gaming sessions. Yet, as John of Medieval Mindset argues in his incisive video essay, these trends evoke the Song Dynasty's Kaifeng, where 12th-century youth flocked to 24-hour tea houses and vibrant districts chronicled in Meng Yuanlao's nostalgic memoir. Far from the dour image of medieval life, Song cities pulsed with pleasure-seeking urbanism, designing streets for snacking and spectacle, much like today's experiential economy that favors memories over mere stuff.

This hunger for third spaces—those vital in-betweens beyond home and work—stems from a profound isolation, with bars and guilds now relics or luxuries. Echoing Song scholar-gentlemen, whose status hinged on taste in incense over income, Gen Z curates lives like Pinterest boards, rejecting corporate cool for niche TikTok tastes. Even wellness fads, from TikTok qigong to hot water rituals, signal a subtle revival of traditional Chinese medicine, proving ancient wisdom's quiet infiltration into Western youth culture.

Deeper parallels emerge in the quest for physical perfection. Looksmaxxing's fringes, like the infamous bonesmashing promoted by streamers, mirror Song tensions between scholarly pallor and warrior density—refined features signaling intellect, robust frames evoking martial qi. Internal alchemy, or neidan, forged chi, jing, and shen into radiant discipline, akin to "locking in" for gym gains or hustles, where the body becomes an unbuyable badge of willpower. As one game quips, "Your body betrays your degeneracy," a mantra as timeless as it is cautionary.

Shifting to the late Ming, Gen Z inhabits a phase of rampant individualism, identities splintering into hyper-specific labels—neurodivergent creators fixated on aesthetics—much like youths defining themselves as melancholy incense aficionados. This self-obsession, born of societal complexity, risks alienation, foreshadowing resets like the Manchu conquest or our AI-driven upheavals. Pleasure precincts, or wazi, offered medieval escapes into vice, their gambling brotherhoods decrying failed meritocracies with 1% exam passes; today, Discord servers and DraftKings amplify such desperation into digital powder kegs.

Ultimately, history's flat circle spins on, scaling ancient follies globally through tech's unforgiving lens. A Song soldier's lost wages pale against a 20-something's app-fueled ruin, yet recognizing these rhythms empowers change. As John urges, rediscover the past not as doom, but as a mirror to human constancy amid flux—lest we repeat without reflection.