‘Zero-energy companionship’: bizarre hobby takes seed among China’s stressed young adults

Young adults in China looking for a cheaper, low-maintenance alternative to having children or pets have found an answer: raising bricks.

Bricks may not be as cuddly as cats or as life-affirming as human offspring, but they also cost next to nothing. “No cats, no dating, I started raising a brick,” wrote one brick parent on social media.

Raising “brick babies” is easier than caring for house plants, involving spraying them with water a few times a day then waiting for moss spores already present in the atmosphere to attach themselves and grow. One Chinese media article described the bricks as being “practically immortal”. “If you forget to water them, the moss goes dormant. If you remember to water them again, the greenery returns.”

A hashtag related to the trend has attracted more than 5m views on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

Social media users document their brick’s changes over a year, with hashtags including #healing and #stress relief. Photograph: @South/xiaohongshu.com

Chinese commentators have linked the trend to young people looking for low-effort routes to finding meaning in life. One brick “parent” told Chinese media the hobby created “a sense of accomplishment no less than completing a long-term project”.

One user on Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like platform, also known as Rednote, posted a picture of their rusty-coloured brick, saying “no output required, no KPIs to hit, no need to beg it to bloom [and] no comparing its growth with others”.

Another user wrote: “My friends asked if I’d lost my mind. I said no, I’m just starting to raise a brick.

“A brick gives me a sense of certainty that feels way more grounded than a lot of relationships. Psychologists call this ‘zero-energy emotional companionship.’ It fulfils your need for company without demanding any obligation to give love in return.”

Young people in China are increasingly shunning the traditional expectations of society, such as having children and working long hours in strenuous jobs, assuming they can find one in the first place. Nearly one in five 16- to 24-year-olds, excluding students, are unemployed, according to official statistics. Some estimates put the unemployment rate much higher.

China’s birthrate is in decline and fell to a record low last year. Faced with a sluggish job market after years of intensely competitive studying, many young people are choosing to shun the rat race and opt instead for “lying flat” – pursuing a low-effort, low-stress lifestyle; one well-suited to raising bricks.

The trend has become so popular that Chinese media have started to warn about the health risks.

Cultivating moss could lead to the spread of mould, with some “brick parents” reportedly complaining of itchy eyes and runny noses. Xuedong Li, a retired professor of moss from Beijing’s Capital Normal University, urged people to keep their bricks in an enclosed environment. “It is best to wear disposable gloves and a mask during handling to reduce spore inhalation and skin contact,” Li told Chinese media.

Additional research by Yu-chen Li