The Limited Times

The harshest 996 work in China, the dream of “machine without emotions”

9/23/2019, 8:16:47 PM


About 20 km northwest of the center of Beijing. Nishinigahata Station of the subway is full of people rushing home around 9pm. The world-renowned IT companies such as Tencent and Baidu gather in the heart of the Chinese IT industry ...

About 20 km northwest of the center of Beijing. Nishinigahata Station of the subway is full of people rushing home around 9pm.

The area where globally known IT companies such as Tencent and Baidu gather together is said to be the heart of the Chinese IT industry. The shuttle bus of each company is placed along the main street, and young people in T-shirts come down. Many of them are programmers who make smartphone apps.

One of them is Mr. Wu (24), who is internationally unnamed but works for a major company with 30,000 employees. It's always around 10:00 pm to get to my home by connecting the subway and electric bicycle. The next morning work is 9am. “I just go to bed when I get home,” laughs small.

“9…