996 working hour system

The 996 working hour system (Chinese: 996工作制) is a work schedule practiced illegally by some 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 and tech companies have adopted this system as their official or de facto work schedule. Critics argue that the 996 working hour system is a violation of the Labour Law of the People's Republic of China 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.