Young Chinese Workers Trade the Grueling 996 for ‘Touching Fish’
With bosses distracted and prospects dim, employees feel freer to goof off.
China is known for its diligent worker bees. The so-called 996 office schedule—9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—has become standard, especially in the tech industry. In the first week of the year, a 22-year-old collapsed and died while walking home at 1:30 a.m. with colleagues from Pinduoduo Inc., an e-commerce company.
But Generation Z is starting to rebel against the workaholic culture. A new philosophy has taken hold during the pandemic, called “touching fish.” The term comes from an idiom saying the best time to catch a fish is when the water is muddy. With bosses distracted by the challenges of operating amid public-health restrictions, young people lounge around at work, deliver the bare minimum, go for frequent bathroom breaks, and refuse to do overtime.