In China, the long-standing social and cultural emphasis has been on prioritizing responsibility, collective interests, and delayed gratification, setting "suffering first, then sweetness" as a default life path, training individuals from a young age to operate with learning, work, family, and the future at the center, while viewing present enjoyment as secondary or even shameful. As a result, many people's life structures are designed to continuously bear responsibilities and postpone happiness, creating a state of "living forever for the future," but this future happiness does not necessarily materialize, or even if it does, individuals may have already lost the ability to experience it (due to time, energy, or desire). Under this structure, so-called "effort and responsibility" do not necessarily lead to a better quality of life; instead, they can easily trap people in long-term repression, delayed happiness, or even its disappearance. The core issue is not whether one is diligent, but that this cultural default continually binds individuals within a responsibility system, leaving them with little genuine autonomy over their own life rhythm and the distribution of happiness.

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