The Guardian

Working 9 to 9: Chinese tech workers push back against long hours

Staff at Alibaba, Huawei and other big firms are sharing evidence of unpaid compulsory overtime
Github users have created a blacklist of more than 150 companies that they claim overwork their employees. Photograph: Dan Chung/The Guardian

Chinese tech employees are pushing back against the industry’s notoriously long hours, known as the “996” schedule of working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

Over the past few weeks, a project that began in part as a joke among tired Chinese developers has turned into a nationwide debate about work culture and a rare protest against practices at some of the country’s largest companies.

In late March, a group of developers started

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