996 working hour system

The 996 working hour system (Chinese: 996工作制) is a work schedule practiced illegally by many companies in China. It derives its name from its requirement that employees work from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, 6 days per week; i.e. 72 hours per week, 12 hours per day. A number of Mainland Chinese internet companies have adopted this system as their official work schedule. Critics argue that the 996 working hour system is a violation of Chinese Labour Law and have called it "modern slavery".

In March 2019, an "anti-996" protest was launched via GitHub. Since then, the 996 issue has been met with growing discontent in China, but despite China's official promises that the 996 working hour system will disappear, it is still widespread as of 2024.