996
jiǔ jiǔ liù
Working 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week — describes the grueling work culture in Chinese tech companies.
Origin
Became a major talking point in 2019 when tech workers created "996.ICU" on GitHub to protest overwork culture.
Examples
I can't meet up this week — my company does 996.
996工作制让人身心疲惫。(The 996 work schedule is physically and mentally exhausting.)
Related terms
天台见
tiān tái jiàn
"See you on the roof" — gallows humor for having lost catastrophic money, usually on football bets or the stock market. The unspoken second half is that the rooftop is where you'd go to jump, so the phrase means roughly "I'm ruined" said with a laugh.
关灯吃面
guān dēng chī miàn
"Eating noodles with the lights off" — the standard way to say you took a bad loss in the market. Broader than a stock term now: any quiet, undramatic private misery.
草台班子
cǎo tái bān zi
Literally a 'straw-stage troupe' — any operation that looks official but is actually disorganized, unprofessional, and improvised; the viral extended form 'the whole world is one giant clown show' applies that to everything.
内卷
nèi juǎn
Involution — excessive, often pointless competition where everyone works harder but nobody gains more.