[4][5][6] The term started as a means to circumvent censorship and was popular only among minority groups who desire to escape to a country more friendly to them.
[1][7] However, during the 2022 COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai, the word rùn gained prominence due to stringent lockdown rules and governmental crackdown on personal freedoms.
[3][9] Even after the end of the pandemic, emigration continued due to China's high youth unemployment rate and the Chinese economy's struggle to rebound.
[1] People's concerns include broader sociopolitical factors, such as governmental crackdowns on large companies and a failing real-estate sector, as well as personal reasons, such as better education for their offspring and better medical care.
[8][6] Juan Zhang wrote that decisions to rùn, born out of the changing circumstances under COVID-19, are often "impetuous" and lack long-term planning.
[11] Biao Xiang, a researcher at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, noted that rùn is not limited to an expression of escapism.