[News in Numbers] 996·896·715·007... China, the Hidden Side of Its Pursuit of Korean Semiconductors

A Neologism Combining Commute, Clock-in/out, and Workdays
China's Labor Law Specifies 8 Hours per Day, 44 Hours per Week
Chinese Government Intervenes Amid Widespread Violations

"Why should we consider employees' families?"

Since May 1, Qiu Jing (49), Vice President of Public Relations at Baidu (百度), China's largest search engine, posted four videos glorifying overtime work consecutively on his personal account on Douyin (?音), the Chinese version of TikTok, and faced severe backlash from Chinese netizens, ultimately losing his job.

In the videos, he said, "Taking weekends off is unthinkable in PR work," and "You must keep your phone on 24 hours a day and always be ready to respond." Chinese netizens criticized this with self-deprecating remarks, calling it the '007 work system.' The 007 work system means working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This statement also affected Baidu's stock price. Baidu's shares, listed on the U.S. stock market, dropped 4% after Qiu's remarks. Qiu posted an apology on May 9 and was subsequently dismissed.

Former Vice President of Baidu Marketing, Qiuzing [Photo by Baidu]

Voices are emerging that the rigid '52-hour workweek system' is the cause of hindering the development of the domestic semiconductor industry. There is a claim that core talents such as semiconductor researchers should be allowed exceptions to working hour regulations so they can focus on autonomous research and development (R&D). As an example, China's grueling working hours are mentioned. Although controversial, extended working hours are said to have been a driving force behind the rapid growth of China's semiconductor industry.

In China, work systems are often expressed with three-digit numbers like '996,' '896,' and '715.' Each digit represents the start time, end time, and number of working days, respectively. Among these, the 996 work system (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week) is said to be the most common. Jack Ma (?云), founder of Alibaba Group, once said in April 2019 that "996 is a blessing," which drew much criticism.

The '896 work system' means working from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week, and the '715 work system' means working 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. The previously mentioned 007 work system is a sarcastic neologism for excessive overtime and is not an actual work system.

A young British man shared his experience with the 996 work system online, attracting attention. Jack Forsdyke (28), who joined China's major gaming company NetEase (?易) in 2022, recalled, "I started work every day at 10 a.m. My standard finishing time was 10 p.m., sometimes past midnight." He posted a gaunt photo of himself with a self-deprecating caption, "Why did I accept this job?" This post resonated with many in China and was viewed over 260,000 times.

A British individual who experienced the notorious '996 work schedule' in China's IT industry shared their story.
[Photo source=Captured from Chinese SNS]

At CATL, China's number one battery company, the 896 work system was openly practiced beyond 996. This overtime pressure is analyzed to be due to the narrowing gap with the second-ranked company, BYD. Although the 896 work system was not officially implemented company-wide, certain departments received notifications to follow the 896 schedule. However, foreign workers were excluded from this, which led to strong internal opposition.

Chinese labor law stipulates working hours as 8 hours a day and 44 hours a week. Employers must guarantee workers at least one day off per week. When overtime is agreed upon, it cannot exceed one hour per day. In special cases, overtime can be up to 3 hours per day and 36 hours per month. However, as violations of working hours continued, the Chinese government, together with the Supreme People's Court, announced in August 2021 a list of '10 overtime cases' urging compliance with working hour principles.

However, recent research shows that the 996 work system is gradually disappearing in China's digital technology industry. According to the '2023 Workplace Insight Report' released by Lagou (拉勾), a Chinese HR company, about 80% of digital technology talents reported working less than 50 hours per week. The most common working hours were 40-50 hours per week (48%), followed by 40 hours (30%), and 50-60 hours (16%). Only 6% of respondents said they worked more than 60 hours per week.