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I had worked as an European engineer in China. I worked European hours and days. IMHO the secret of success of China, if there is one(China is way poorer than

I had worked as an European engineer in China. I worked European hours and days. IMHO the secret of success of China, if there is one(China is way poorer than EU or USA), is accepting capitalism after centuries of stagnation with systems that worked very bad for most people(worked for Emperors, communist dictators and people in power thought). To say that working 996 is the secret to success is just manipulation of the wsj, which does not surprise me coming from this newspaper. Not accepting patents in practice like US did with England could be the secret of China industry advancing very fast but working too much is not. Chinese spend a long time in work, they even sleep there but the energy they have most of the time is very low precisely because of that. European system is far superior.

saiya-jin 9y ago
Work efficiency is clearly superior here, hard to argue with that point. But what strikes me most, how little real life these people must get. You know, the time you have for yourself, friends, family, adventures, stuff that makes you smile when remembering, that makes you proud you experienced it, that forms you as a person your whole life. I have cca 6-7 hours of this kind of time after work, I have amazing adventures almost every weekend in the alps, and 3-4 vacations thousands of kms away per year. Wouldn't trade that for anything. Having free time when retired sucks since your body (and mind) is already in heavy decline, if you still live at all. Most true adventures are impossible if you are > 65 for most. Life well lived ain't a life worked hard all the time.