利路修：一个郁闷的俄罗斯模特如何成为中国懒汉的偶像

被赶出真人秀也许不值得庆祝，但对一个俄罗斯男人来说，这是一个梦想成真的过程——也是他成为中国懒汉偶像的不太可能的旅程中的最新转折。

弗拉迪斯拉夫·伊万诺夫（Vladislav Ivanov）以艺名利路修而闻名，是目前中国互联网上最炙手可热的明星之一。

以他闷闷不乐、无聊的脸为特征的标签和模因在社交媒体上占据主导地位，成千上万的年轻人将这位27岁的模特作为“桑文华”的新象征，桑文华是一种以悲观和冷漠为中心的青年亚文化。

这一切都始于他做了一生中最糟糕的决定，但也可能是最好的决定。

今年早些时候，利路修被要求在创2021中为两名日本选手上中文课，这是一个真人秀比赛，旨在创造中国下一个轰动的男团。

这位在中国生活了几年后中文流利的俄罗斯模特表示了同意。

但利路修的美貌并没有逃过该剧制片人的注意。在2月初节目开始前几天，他们问他：他也愿意加入吗？

在后来的采访中，他说他“想尝试一种新的生活”，利路修说可以。

作为该剧的90名参赛者之一，他很快就参加了男团的新兵训练营——一个小时接一个小时的歌舞课，他的一举一动都被广播到了中国其他地方。

据报道，参赛者不能离开他们在海南岛的住所，因此被切断了与网络世界的联系。他们无法使用电脑，甚至不得不交出手机。

这显然不是利路修所期望的——他对此非常诚实。

“我不想跳舞。我也不适合男团。所以我真的很累。我想这个月回家，”他在一次采访中直言。

但没有太多的出路——据报道，参赛者签署的合同如果决定离开，将被处以巨额罚款。他们唯一能逃脱的办法就是被淘汰。

所以，利路修决定成为创2021最差的选手。

一个星期又一个星期，他睡得很晚，面试时闷闷不乐，无精打采地上课，在排练时利用一切机会懈怠。

在他的舞台表演中，当其他参赛者低声吟唱浪漫民谣或表演充满活力的舞蹈数字时，他喃喃自语地唱了两遍悲怆的俄罗斯说唱。

令他恼火的是，观众们都喜欢这一切——他的冷酷，他面无表情的回答，他被困在21世纪卡夫卡式噩梦中的低调沮丧。

该剧的导演们意识到他在收视率上很高，就在剪辑剧集时夸大了他的不情愿。与此同时，他不断壮大的粉丝群——自称为“笋丝”或“刻薄粉丝”——不断投票支持他，以确保他在节目中持续数周，为了观众的观看乐趣而做鬼脸和旋转。

就这样，一只不情愿的凤凰半心半意地从灰烬中飞出，一颗中国懒汉的新星诞生了。

幻灭的拒绝

中国的“sang wen hua”或“丧文化”文化主要表现在网络上的模因和笑话中，但现在也是一种销售泡茶的营销趋势，具有讽刺意味的是，这是一种庆祝漫无目的和绝望的运动。它的名字用了一个汉字，意思是“丧失”。

以前的表情包包括一个很受欢迎的中国演员倒在沙发上（葛优瘫），青蛙佩佩（不同于其他地方，它在中国不被认为是右翼的象征），马男波杰克，甚至还有一个懒惰的日本煎蛋吉祥物。

专家说，面对日益严重的不平等和失业率，以及大城市不断上涨的房价，许多年轻人发现找工作、拥有住房等传统目标越来越难以实现。

“中国大部分地区已经摆脱了贫困，但年轻人实现梦想的愿望却变得越来越困难……因此，这是一个巨大的障碍，但与此同时，仍然存在这些期望（做好工作），”中国宁波诺丁汉大学数字媒体与文化研究副教授K Cohen Tan博士说。

堪萨斯大学中国现代文学与文化副教授许法叶博士说，“丧”文化因此代表了“一个虚幻的乌托邦，年轻人可以从他们疲惫、焦虑的日常生活中逃离出来”。

肖博士告诉BBC，对于2021年的中国观众来说，利路修的懒汉风气尤为重要，他们“在疫情期间，无力感进一步增强”。

利路修的迷因在网上蓬勃发展，而他在节目中经常使用的短语——“我真的很累”、“我们什么时候下课”和“我想休假”也在网上流传开来。

谭博士说，尤其是利路修对必须在节目中努力工作的沮丧，反映了许多年轻人对中国臭名昭著的繁重的“996”工作文化的“失败感”——所谓的“996”工作文化，是指一周工作六天，从早上九点工作到晚上九点的人。

他对BBC说：“这种被困住、无助的感觉，正是许多年轻人的感受——他们工作时间很长，但即使他们很想辞职，也无法辞职。”。

一个转折点是，利路修因表现平平被评为F级，他宣称：“F代表自由。”

谭博士说，在一瞬间，他把许多中国年轻人害怕的前景——成绩不好——变成了一个具有讽刺意味的号召，体现了“从许多人自己面临的压力中解放出来的愿望”。

“如果你爱我，就不要支持我”

但也许唯一恨勒鲁斯成为懒鬼偶像的人就是利路修自己。

“如果你爱我，请不要支持我，”他在为该剧拍摄的一段又一段视频中恳求粉丝们。

两个周末，他的愿望终于实现了，让他完全松了一口气的是，他在《创2021》上演了三个月终于被淘汰出局。

那一集的录像显示，他和其他参赛者一起在台上挥手，然后迎头冲向出口，剧组人员紧追不舍。

不久之后，他的官方微博上突然出现了一个新帖子，不过不知道是他写的还是该剧制片人写的：“谢谢大家的支持，我终于可以下班了。”

离开节目后，他一直保持低调，很少对媒体说什么。他没有回应BBC的采访要求。

他拒绝告诉中国新闻媒体他的下一步是什么，只是神秘地说：“我不想限制我的自由。”

但有迹象表明，他打算利用自己新获得的名声来赚钱。上周末，他在自己的微博账户上插入了一款手机游戏——带有讽刺意味的标签“利路修在劳动节工作”——并得到了另一家游戏开发商的交易。

当然，中国新加冕的懒鬼神似乎正在享受一次当之无愧的休息。

本周，利路修在Instagram上发布了一张自己懒洋洋地躺在床上的照片，他用英语、普通话和俄语说：“终于休息放松了。”

（90%基本机翻）

原文

Lelush: How a sulky Russian model became China's slacker icon

Being kicked out of a reality TV show might not be something to celebrate, but for one Russian man it was a dream come true - and the latest twist in his unlikely journey to becoming an icon for Chinese slackers.

Vladislav Ivanov - better known by his stage name Lelush - is one of the hottest stars of the Chinese internet at the moment.

Hashtags and memes featuring his sulky, bored face dominate social media, as thousands of youths have embraced the 27-year-old model as the new symbol of "sang wenhua", a youth sub-culture centred on pessimism and apathy.

It all began when he made the worst - but also possibly the best - decision of his life.

Earlier this year, Lelush was asked to give Chinese lessons to two Japanese contestants in Chuang 2021, a reality TV competition aimed at creating China's next boy band sensation.

The Russian model, who is fluent in the language after living in China for several years, agreed.

But Lelush's good looks did not escape the notice of the show's producers. Days before the show began in early February, they asked him: would he like to join as well?

Figuring he had nothing to lose - in later interviews he said he "felt like trying out a new life" - Lelush said yes.

As one of the show's 90 contestants, he was promptly enrolled in boy band boot camp - hours upon hours of singing and dance classes, with his every move broadcast to the rest of China.

According to reports, contestants could not leave their accommodation on the island of Hainan, and were cut off from the online world. They had no access to computers and even had to hand over their mobile phones.

This was clearly not what Lelush had expected - and he was brutally honest about it.

"I don't want to dance. I'm also not suitable for a boy band too. So I'm really very tired. I want to go home this month," he bluntly stated in one interview.

But there was not much of a way out - the contract contestants had signed reportedly carried a hefty fine if they decided to leave. The only way they could escape was if they got voted out.

And so, Lelush decided to be the worst contestant ever on Chuang 2021.

Week after week he slept in late, sulked through his interviews, and listlessly took part in classes, taking every opportunity to slack off during rehearsals.

For his stage performances, while other contestants crooned romantic ballads or performed energetic dance numbers, he mumbled his way through a mournful Russian rap - twice.

To his exasperation, the audience loved it all - his dourness, his deadpan answers, his low-key frustration at being trapped in a 21st Century Kafkaesque nightmare.

The show's directors, sensing he was ratings gold, played up his reluctance in their edits of episodes. Meanwhile his ever-growing fanbase - who christened themselves "sun si", or "mean fans" - voted for him repeatedly to ensure he remained in the show for weeks, grimacing and gyrating for their viewing pleasure.

Thus, like an unwilling phoenix half-heartedly flapping out of the ashes, a new star of Chinese slackerdom was born.

Disillusioned rejection

Expressed largely in online memes and jokes - but also now a marketing trend that sells bubble tea, among other things - China's "sang wenhua", or "sang" culture, is a movement that ironically celebrates aimlessness and hopelessness. Its name uses a Chinese character that means "loss".

Previous poster boys have included a popular Chinese actor slumped on a sofa, Pepe the Frog (which, unlike elsewhere, is not considered a right-wing symbol in China), Bojack Horseman, and even a lazy Japanese fried egg mascot.

Faced with worsening inequality and unemployment rates, and rising housing prices in major cities, many youths have found traditional goals such as getting a job and owning a home becoming increasingly unattainable, say experts.

"Much of China has been lifted out of poverty, but youths' desires to fulfil their dreams, that have become increasingly difficult... So it's a huge barrier, but at the same time there are still these expectations [to do well]," says Dr K Cohen Tan, associate professor of digital media and cultural studies at University of Nottingham Ningbo China.

"Sang" culture thus represents "an illusory utopia where youths can escape from their exhausting, anxiety-ridden everyday lives", says Dr Hui Faye Xiao, associate professor of modern Chinese literature and culture at the University of Kansas.

Lelush's slacker ethos was particularly relevant for a 2021 Chinese audience, whose "sense of powerlessness has been further heightened during the pandemic", Dr Xiao tells the BBC.

Lelush memes have flourished online, while phrases that he often used on the show - "I'm really tired", "when do we finish class" and "I want to go on leave" - have gone viral.

In particular, Dr Tan says, Lelush's frustration about having to work hard on the show mirrored many young people's "sense of defeatism" about China's notorious gruelling "996" work culture - so-called for people who work from nine in the morning to nine in the evening, six days a week.

"This sense of entrapment, of helplessness, is what many young people feel - they work very long hours, but are unable to quit even though they would love to," he tells the BBC.

One turning point was when Lelush was graded F for a lacklustre performance, to which he declared: "F is for freedom."

In an instant, he turned a prospect that many Chinese youths dread - getting a bad grade - into an ironic rallying cry embodying "the desire to be liberated from the pressures that many face themselves", says Dr Tan.

'If you love me, don't support me'

But perhaps the only person who hated Lelush's journey to become a slacker icon was Lelush himself.

"If you love me, please don't support me," he pleaded with fans, in video after video filmed for the show.

His wish was finally granted late two weekends ago when, to his utter relief, he finally got voted out of Chuang 2021 after three long months on the show.

Footage of that episode showed him waving onstage along with other contestants, then dashing headlong towards the exit, with show staff in hot pursuit.

Shortly afterwards a new post popped up on his official Weibo account, though it's not known if it was penned by him or the show's producers: "Thank you everyone for your support, I finally get to knock off work."

Since leaving the show he has kept a low profile, saying little to the media. He did not respond to the BBC's requests for an interview.

He refused to tell Chinese news outlets what his next steps were, only cryptically saying: "I don't want to constrain my freedom."

But there are signs that he intends to cash in on his newfound fame. Over the weekend he plugged a mobile phone game on his Weibo account - with the ironic hashtag "Lelush working on Labour Day" - and has been offered a deal with another game developer.

And of course, China's newly-crowned slacker god appears to be enjoying a well-deserved break.

This week Lelush posted on Instagram a photo of himself lounging in bed, saying in a mixture of English, Mandarin and Russian: "Finally resting and relaxing."