What does "996 (jiǔ jiǔ liù)" mean in Chinese?

It means working from 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week.

It started to gain popularity when some Chinese company, predominately tech companies (and game companies) would openly require their workers to work for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, without overtime pay.

It is listed on their hiring ads.

It is, of course, against Chinese labor law. But speaking from the gaming industry (since I’m more familiar with it), nobody enforces the law. And the companies would say the workers volunteered to stay late to finish the work.

What came after 996? ICU.

you work that much with that kind of intensity, you end up in ICU sooner or later

• It means：它意味着。
• working from：从...工作。
• 9 am to：从早上9点到。
• 9 pm：晚上9点。
• 6 days a week：每周6天。
• It started to gain popularity：它开始变得流行。
• when：当。
• some Chinese company：一些中国公司。
• predominately：主要是。
• tech companies：科技公司。
• game companies：游戏公司。
• would openly require their workers to：会公然要求他们的员工。
• work for 12 hours a day：每天工作12小时。
• without overtime pay：不支付加班费。
• It is listed on：它出现在。
• their hiring ads：他们的招聘广告上。
• It is, of course, against：当然，这违反了。
• Chinese labor law：中国劳动法。
• But speaking from：但从...来说。
• the gaming industry：游戏行业。
• since：因为。
• I’m more familiar with：我更熟悉。
• nobody enforces the law：没有人执行法律。
• And the companies would say：而公司会说。
• the workers volunteered to stay late：员工自愿加班。
• to finish the work：完成工作。
• What came after 996?：996之后发生了什么？
• you work that much with that kind of intensity：你以那种强度工作那么长时间。
• you end up in ICU：最终会进ICU。
• sooner or later：迟早。

wow that’s crazy. such a lengthy time of working and at what cost a person would pay it if not their own very life given as corporate slave. I won’t do such a lengthy time unless it is very important project to deal with. I mean life is in our hands and we can choose to stay alive instead being enslaved only for corporate greediness.

• crazy：疯狂的。
• lengthy time：长时间。
• working：工作。
• at what cost：以什么代价。
• a person would pay：一个人会付出。
• it if not：如果不是。
• their own very life：他们自己的生命。
• given as：奉献为。
• corporate slave：企业的奴隶。
• I won’t do：我不会做。
• unless：除非。
• it is very important：它非常重要。
• project to deal with：要处理的项目。
• I mean：我的意思是。
• life is in our hands：生命掌握在我们手中。
• we can choose to：我们可以选择。
• stay alive：保持活着。
• instead being enslaved：而不是被奴役。
• only for：仅仅为了。
• corporate greediness：企业的贪婪。