Business | Clocked off

China’s youth are rebelling against long hours

The backlash over a series of viral videos says a lot about shifting attitudes

A Huawei employee watches a program on his smartphone as he rests at his cubicle during lunch break.
Photograph: Getty Images
|Shanghai

It is a time-honoured tradition for bosses to grumble about the supposed laziness of their underlings. Doing so publicly, however, is rarely wise. China offers no exception to this rule. Earlier this month Qu Jing, the head of communications at Baidu, a local tech giant, took to social media to defend the company’s gruelling culture. The resulting firestorm has highlighted the growing dissatisfaction among China’s young white-collar workers with the punishing hours common in the country.

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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Clocked off”

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