A "996" job refers to an unofficial working pattern (9am - 9pm, 6 days a week) that has been gaining more popularity. Serving a company that encourages the "996" working pattern usually means working for at least 60 hours a week.
Labor Law of the People’s Republic of China Article 41 says:
The employer can prolong work hours due to needs of production or businesses after consultation with its trade union and labourers. The work hours to be prolonged, in general, shall be no longer than one hour a day, or no more than three hours a day if such prolonging is called for due to special reasons and under the condition that the physical health of labourers is guaranteed. The work time to be prolonged shall not exceed, however, 36 hours a month.
In early 2019, a Chinese E-commerce company called Youzan has announced the adoption of the "996" working pattern in the future, at the company's Chinese New Year Party. The CEO of Youzan respond: "This would definitely be a good decision when we look back in a few years time.".
In Mid-March 2019, it was reported that Jingdong started adpoting "996" or "995" working pattern in some of the business units. Jingdong PR posted on their maimai(脉脉, a Chinese real-name business social network platform) account: "(Our culture is) to devote ourselves with all our hearts (to achieve the business objectives)".
According to the Labor Law, employees who follow the "996" working pattern deserve to be paid 2.275 times of their base salary. Unfortunately people who achieved "996" rarely get paid that much.
If you consistently follow the "996" working pattern, you run the risk of getting yourself into ICU.
Developers' lives matter.