Zài luànshì zhōng gǒuqiětōushēng, shì xǔduō rén de wúnài xuǎnzé.
Just scraping by during turbulent times is a choice forced on many.
Tips
history
Roots in 《荀子·荣辱》 (Xúnzǐ, 'Honor and Disgrace' chapter): 今夫偷生浅知之属，曾比而不知也 — Xunzi's denunciation of those whose horizon is bare survival. Strongly disapproving register: implies you have lost your principles to keep breathing.
memory
苟且 'just barely / get-by' + 偷生 'steal life.' Picture someone literally stealing extra days of life — not earning them honorably. That's the moral judgment baked into the idiom.
