Beipiao

Beipiao (北漂) means "drifting in Beijing," and it describes the millions of people who move to the capital from other provinces for work without a Beijing hukou, the household registration that ties housing, schooling and some benefits to one city. The word can mean the lifestyle or the people who live it.

A typical beipiao is young, educated and ambitious. They rent a room in a shared flat, often far from the center, commute for an hour or more, and work long hours in tech, media, advertising or the arts. Every Lunar New Year they go home and get asked when they'll settle down, and every year they ask themselves whether to stay in Beijing or go back.

Modern Chinese dramas love beipiao characters because they come with built-in stakes: no family money, no connections, and a city that is exciting and exhausting at once. Shanghai has its own version, hupiao (沪漂), and the general term for people drifting to any big city is piao (漂).

In The Early Spring, Shang Zhitao and her two roommates are all beipiao, and their shared flat is as important to the story as the ad agency where she works.