Jack Ma and Richard Liu defend China’s overtime work culture, but ordinary workers can’t relate

So said Jack Ma, whose rags-to-riches story has now become familiar to many, in a recent rallying call to his troops at Alibaba.

“I’m so angry I want to laugh,” wrote Weibo blogger Su Jianqi in a post that’s drawn more than 58,000 likes. “Boss Ma, sitting high up among the clouds, probably doesn’t know that for ordinary people, work isn’t a choice they make.”

The post sums up the growing anger among Chinese tech workers, who are beginning to question gruelling “996” work hours that have turned into an industry norm. A lively repository on Github contains a blacklist of companies with long hours. Github isn’t blocked by China’s firewall because of the essential role it plays for developers, but the page for what’s become a sensitive topic was later blocked by China’s domestic browsers.