Biao Xiang’s talks on anxiety draw young Chinese listeners

Anthropologist Biao Xiang is drawing young Chinese listeners to talks about anxiety and social pressure, with about 500 people attending a recent event in Singapore, according to BBC News. The response matters because his audience is looking for ways to describe the strain they feel around work, status and the future. The gathering and interviews show how some people respond to him; they do not establish how widely his ideas are followed across China.

The BBC reported that the Singapore audience was mostly Chinese diaspora and that dozens queued afterward to meet Xiang and take photographs. One young graduate told the BBC that the move from school to working life brings uncertainty. She said Xiang’s words made her feel understood. Another attendee described herself as a fan of the professor. These are individual accounts, rather than a survey of young Chinese people.

Putting pressure into words

At the Singapore talk, Xiang discussed how people can come to measure their worth through approval from systems such as competitive exams and hiring. He suggested looking for meaning and understanding in relationships with other people. Speaking to the BBC, he said that describing a painful social problem can help people analyse and manage it. The report offered no evidence that his approach reduces anxiety or improves mental health.

An independent [China Books Review interview](https://chinabooksreview.com/2026/04/14/wtc-xiang-biao/) published in April described Xiang as having a wide following among younger audiences. In that interview, he linked graduates’ distress to a gap between the expectations of relatively well-off urban families and the jobs available to their children. He acknowledged that his description of which group was unhappiest could not be objectively quantified.

Xiang, who directs the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Germany, has used images such as a hummingbird that must keep moving to describe a life driven by pressure. His emphasis on nearby relationships gives listeners a way to discuss their own circumstances. The [BBC’s account](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq70dgdndr46o?at_campaign=rss&at_medium=RSS) documents that response among people it interviewed and at the Singapore event, while leaving its broader reach uncertain.