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The 996 (九九六) work culture in Mainland China (China 🇨🇳) has become a popular topic of discussion in recent years. This refers to the practice of working 9AM to 9PM, 6 days a week. This grueling schedule (日程) is often expected by tech companies, startups (初创), and other businesses in China's highly competitive (竞相) work environment. In this blog post, we will explore this phenomenon and its impact on Chinese society.

TLDR

996 has both supporters and opponents
Supporters argue that 996 is necessary to get ahead and survive
Opponents argue that 996 has too high an impact on worker health
Government regulations are in place but not implemented
Companies are starting to reform their 996 practices thanks to public backlash and government criticism
Many youth are protesting against 996 culture with the tangping “lie flat” movement

The Supporters and Opponents of 996

996 has both supporters and opponents (同情者 and 对手, respectively). Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba (阿里巴巴), one of China’s largest tech companies, initially supported 996 before being heavily criticized. He stated,

“这个世界上，我们每一个人都希望成功，都希望美好生活，都希望被尊重，我请问大家，你不付出超越别人的努力和时间，你怎么能够实现你想要的成功？”

**Trans: “On this world, every one of us hopes to be successful, hopes to have a wonderful life, hopes to be respected. May I ask everyone, if you don’t put out more hard work and time than others, how will you be able to achieve the success you want?” (1)**

Support of 996 also comes from Chinese youth. Soul, a Chinese dating/social networking app, surveyed more than 4,000 college students after the year 2000 regarding many topics, including 996. Here are their 996-specific findings:

51.43% of respondents would be willing to work 996 if the salary (薪水) were high enough
29.89% of respondents would “reluctantly embrace” 996 until receiving a better job
16.26% of respondents consider 996 “unacceptable” and would rather resign (2)

Considering that a little over half of the respondents would be willing to work 996, it’s clear that support for 996 does not come merely from upper-level, C-suite employees.

Why are these youth so willing to work 996? It’s important to understand the context here. For your reference, the monthly cost of living (生活费) for 1 person for China overall is 5,325 yuan, or 63,900 yuan per year. (3)

Let’s be generous and assume that in China all college graduates are within the top 20% income bracket of the population. In 2022 the annual per capita disposable income (income after taxes) for this top quintile of the population was around 90,100 yuan.

Is this amount enough to survive in China? Yes! ✅

Let’s look at the annual per capita disposable incomes of the bottom 4 quintiles of the population from highest to lowest (rounded to the nearest 100, measured in yuan): (4)

47,400
30,600
19,300
8,600

Do any of these amounts exceed 63,900 yuan? No 😕 ❌

These figures show that choosing to work 996 or not can mean choosing between a relatively comfortable lifestyle and a drastically lower standard of living (生活质量).

But does working 996 count as living? Opponents of 996 point to the toll this schedule takes on people's health and well-being. Here’s something important to know:

**996 doesn’t always mean 996!**

Being in a 996 work culture could mean working even beyond the figurative 9AM-9PM, 6 days a week. It could mean working even 80+ hours a week and essentially sacrificing your life for your work.

Instead of referring specifically to a 996 work schedule, 996 refers to the overwork culture among white-collar Chinese workers overall. (5)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, burnout, exhaustion, and mental health issues are common among those who work 996. Furthermore, this work schedule can have a negative impact on family life and personal relationships, leading to a decline in overall quality of life.

Some 996 workers have even died from exhaustion! (6)

The Legal and Social Implications of 996 Culture

Chinese labor law (劳动法) has mandated the following since 1994 (7):

No more than 44 hours of work per week
Overtime for no more than 3 hours in a day
Total monthly overtime should not exceed 36 hours

The Chinese government should be commended for having these quite progressive (进步) laws in place. However, in practice these laws are not always the most feasible for Chinese companies to implement. Competition in China, especially in the tech sector, is quite high, and corporations may not be able to stay afloat if they abide by such regulations.

Overall, businesses still continue to implement 996 to stay afloat, and workers are still continuing to work 996. (5)

The prevalence of 996 has led to a backlash in Chinese society, with many people calling for better work-life balance and more respect for workers' rights (工人权利). Some tech companies, such as e-commerce company Pinduoduo (拼多多) after the previously mentioned death of one of their workers, have faced significant public criticism for their implementation of 996. (6)

Thanks to public backlash and government criticism, tech companies do show signs of changing their 996 work practices. In 2021, ByteDance, the founders of TikTok ⏰ , officially ended their 996 work culture and replaced it with a “1075” system: 10AM to 7PM, 5 days a week. Following this change, employees had to seek permission to work overtime, among other changes intended to reform (改革) the company’s work culture. (8)

Many Chinese youth are now revolting against 996 by embracing ”tangping“ (躺平) - literally “lie flat”, a philosophy of completely giving up significant material desires and abandoning the struggle for prosperity that has been the norm in China since the country opened itself almost 50 years ago. (9)

However, while youth may want to wholeheartedly embrace tangping, there’s still the unfortunate reality that working 996 may be the only way to live a decent life, so that’s a bit of a fire extinguisher to the tangping movement. 😕 🧯

To Conclude

Here are the main takeaways you should have gotten from this article:

The definition of 996
Supporter/Opponent rationales
Consequences of 996
Government/public/corporate responses to 996 backlash

The 996 work culture will not be an easy problem to fix, but hopefully the Chinese government, people, and private sector can work together to promote work-life balance for the millions who make up China’s workforce.

The Insane Work Culture of China || 996

TLDR

The Supporters and Opponents of 996

The Legal and Social Implications of 996 Culture

To Conclude

References

Reach Out to Us!

The Insane Work Culture of China || 996

TLDR

The Supporters and Opponents of 996

The Legal and Social Implications of 996 Culture

To Conclude

References

Keep Chinese Interesting with these Two Words || 有意思 and 无聊

A Guide to Understanding Coming and Going in Mandarin || 去 and 来

Reach Out to Us!