China's silent rebellion
Working from 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week - this was 996. And, in reality, hours were often much longer with employers expecting almost constant availability. These Chinese working conditions were being criticised back in 2019 by an online movement called 996.icu, the ICU standing for intensive care unit, where you might just end up if these extreme hours continue.
The association emphasises that they are not a political movement.
An important point to make in a country in which all unions require government approval.
In August 2021, the Chinese government couldn’t ignore public anger any longer and ruled 996 to be illegal. But the practice seems to be continuing under a different name.
In the standard hour system, employees do work 8-hour days and a maximum of 44 hours a week. They are also paid decent overtime rates. But there are also two other options that companies can choose from:
The comprehensive work hour system allows working hours to fluctuate across a week, month, quarter or year. Employees only receive overtime pay once they have worked 36 extra hours and there is no specified day off. Unsurprisingly, I’ve seen this described as “employer-friendly”.
And then there is the non-fixed work hour system, which allows proponents of 996 to basically carry on as before. Employees receive a set salary per month, however many hours they work, and schedules around rest and time off are decided by the employer.
Tech leaders have voiced open support for the “non-fixed work hour system”
According to The Verge, ByteDance, which owns TikTok, simply replaced 996 with a 63-hour working week, conditions that have a knock-on effect in its US branch, as employees feel under extreme pressure to align with their Chinese colleagues. Even worse, Jia Guolong, CEO of major Chinese catering business Xibei, is in favour of 715 - working 15 hours 7 days a week. Voluntarily, of course.
Anecdotes tell of staff being fined for missing phone calls and of bathrooms with signal blockers to stop anyone wasting time on the toilet. And because you need the carrot as well as the stick, there have been examples of employers providing fold-out beds and nap rooms too.
A revealing documentary by Vice includes interviews with several people working 996.
One woman works till midnight in the second half of the year and is expected to be on call 24/7, fighting “emergencies” (no, she’s not a doctor). She eats all three meals in the office and comes home to scroll through social media before finally falling asleep:
“In my current state, there is really no life. I’m losing my soul and becoming very numb [...] it feels like I’m falling all the way down.”
Her feelings of numbness and emptiness sound like clear symptoms of depression to me - but she makes no mention of doctor’s appointments, medication, or a diagnosis.
Vice also interviews a woman who managed to quit the hypercharged Chinese rat race. During her 4 years working 996, she would often get up at 2 or 3 am to work, speaking of “invisible mental torture”. And, almost as an aside, she mentions:
“I even had hallucinations later. I always felt that my cell phone [was] ringing and that someone [was] looking for me”.
There are three main symptoms of psychosis - hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking and speaking - and she ticked two out of three boxes in one sentence. If that doesn’t qualify you for a diagnosis of clinical burnout, I don’t know what does.
And she felt bad, weak, for not keeping going when others did.
But then came that powerful sentence, a decision that many of us have to make at some point in our lives:
“I decided to treat myself better”
And she did, moving on to a less well paid job with standard 8-hour days.
Gen Z and Y are not just touching fish
But there is a backlash. In 2021, young people were using their own term for wasting time at work - mó yú, which means “touching fish”. It’s a play on the Chinese proverb 浑水摸鱼 “muddy waters make it easy to catch fish” - meaning that you can use chaotic situations to your benefit. I’ve seen it described as a form of nonviolent resistance - which can mean anything from using a ridiculous amount of toilet paper to drinking whisky at work.
After that came “lying flat” - making little effort at work or leaving the workforce altogether. In 2022, the phrase “let it rot” emerged, describing young people who have simply given up. Is China perhaps suffering from collective depression?
But what gives me hope is that touching fish also continues to trend. Its use has actually increased since 2021. In China, hierarchy and status are embedded in the language and pressure to perform starts at a very young age. You work hard, you don’t rebel.
But, somehow, this quiet rebellion is still going strong.
P.S. Scroll down and click on the heart if you liked this article - it helps other people to find my writing :)
The Extreme 996 Work Culture in China, a Vice documentary
Read more:
Advice for companies looking to set up business in China (a very interesting perspective!):
https://www.china-briefing.com/news/special-work-hour-systems-in-china-approval-process-compliance-obligations/ (written in May 2023)
https://msadvisory.com/working-hours-china/ (written in April 2024)
Article on Chinese CEO Jia Guolong:
https://www.caixinglobal.com/2021-01-05/trending-in-china-tired-of-996-get-ready-for-715-and-the-return-of-chinas-evil-capitalists-101646789.html
The Guardian on touching fish:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/22/touching-fish-craze-see-chinas-youth-find-ways-to-laze-amid-996-work-culture
More quiet resistance in China:
https://kanebridgenews.com/america-had-quiet-quitting-in-china-young-people-are-letting-it-rot/
Brief information on psychosis:
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/psychosis/overview/
More detail:
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/psychosis/about-psychosis/
Graph found on Baiguan:
