Burnt-out Chinese youth wear laid-back emperor’s robe to resist overtime

Burnt out by the relentless grind, some young people in China have rallied around an unlikely patron saint: a famously indolent Ming dynasty (1368–1644) emperor.

This autumn, across office towers, universities, and streets in China’s tier-one cities, young people have begun sporting black Taoist robes modelled on the garment worn by the Jiajing Emperor in the classic historical drama Ming Dynasty in 1566.

In the drama, actor Chen Baoguo portrays the Jiajing Emperor as an unkempt, robe-clad...