Concept · Business
996
In plain English
A working pattern of roughly 09:00 to 21:00, six days a week, associated particularly with parts of the technology sector. Widely discussed as a labour-rights issue.
Literally
Nine to nine, six days — the schedule stated as a number.
Commonly mistaken for
Not a legal working standard. China’s Labour Law sets standard hours of eight a day and no more than forty-four a week, and caps overtime at thirty-six hours a month. In August 2021 the Supreme People’s Court and the labour ministry jointly published ten typical cases on excessive overtime, one of which held a 09:00–21:00 six-day requirement to exceed the statutory ceiling and the rule imposing it to be void. That was guidance through illustrative cases, not a ruling that the term itself is unlawful.
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Chinese
· ·
996; the 996 work system; overtime and labour law
Related
- Involution (neijuan) — 内卷
Sources
- 《中华人民共和国劳动法》, Arts. 36, 41 and 43 — standard hours and the overtime ceiling
- 人力资源社会保障部 and 最高人民法院, 超时加班劳动人事争议典型案例, published 26 August 2021
Review status. Sources verified against primary references, 1 August 2026.