Wow, that's a brutal work schedule. Hard to believe it's the norm. Isn't there enough demand that tech workers could elect to work elsewhere if their employer enforces this?
I was never on a schedule this bad but when I was doing regular overtime (~52 hrs/week, the worst weeks coming in at 60) I found that my work drained me physically to the point where I just lost all ability to enjoy my life and do... anything - I just sort of collapsed through a work day into the next work day with a blearily remember transit ride and face-stuffed-with-pizza home time between it. As one of the two back-end developers I put my foot down regarding more OT and got out of that job as soon as I had a solid alternative.
My life is not a way to transform calories into money for someone else, nobody's should be - stand up for your rights.
That was an old joke with caffeine instead of calories.
I worked seven days a week for two months. We were paid double salaries and some perks, but no amount of money would have convinced us to keep that schedule longer. It was absolutely crazy.
To clarify, 40 hours was explicitly guaranteed only for civil service staff. For private sectors, working hour is unspecified. However working 996 without compensation is illegal. In theory the employer has to triple hour fee for >40h over time.
Overtime in mainland China is hard-ceilinged at 36 hours per month (1.5 hours per day...). Beyond that is illegal, which is likely in large part why 996 companies don't like the spotlight in the current 'who knows' game of who Beijing/Xi will selectively select to be made an example of.
Triple hourly pro-rata pay is only for working over official statutory holidays, otherwise overtime pay is 1.5 pro-rata hourly rate for working days and double hourly rate for 'rest days' (this would include Saturday or Sunday for a Monday-Friday employment contract).
Most of the tech firms do this kind of brutal work schedule, so there are only very few choices left in the market, which are mostly foreign or national enterprises.
My life is not a way to transform calories into money for someone else, nobody's should be - stand up for your rights.