In central China, a young teacher has tragically passed away in his office due to the overwhelming stress of handling 400 students and putting in excessive overtime hours.
The deceased, surnamed Li and in his late twenties, had been employed for five years at an educational tutoring company based in Wuhan. This company, established in 2012, operates an online platform that provides English and mathematics courses for primary and secondary school students. According to online sources, the platform boasts over 160 million users.
After graduating from college, Li joined the company as an online tutor. Mainland media reports indicate that he had recently put in several days of overtime to complete his tasks before a long holiday.
On April 22, Li went to the office and worked late into the night. When his fiancée was unable to get in touch with him, she contacted the police. The following morning, a janitor discovered Li unresponsive in the office. He was later pronounced dead, having suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.
Li’s relatives revealed that he came from a financially struggling family. He was the second child, with an older unmarried sister. His father had passed away years ago, and his mother had subsequently remarried. Li’s fiancée shared that they had planned to get married on May 2.
The local labor authority stated that Li’s family and the company are in the process of preparing paperwork to determine if his death was work-related.
On April 25, the company issued a statement expressing deep sorrow over Li’s passing and pledged to cooperate with his family. The statement emphasized that no overtime had been scheduled for Li’s team on that particular day as it coincided with a company-wide holiday. The firm also praised Li’s work performance and requested that the public respect his family’s privacy.
However, many netizens cast doubt on the company’s statement. One netizen commented, “Is the company implying that Li willingly chose to work overtime? Without the pressure of high performance targets and the fear of losing their jobs, no one would voluntarily overwork themselves.”
Mainland media had previously reported widespread overtime issues at the company. Former employees disclosed that one teacher was responsible for managing 400 students, answering countless inquiries from parents, and regularly working more than six extra hours a day. Staff members were even required to report to their supervisors when using the restroom or taking lunch breaks.
One former employee, surnamed Wang, said she developed anxiety due to long-term overtime and resigned at the end of last year. Another, surnamed Zhang, quit her job the very day after learning about Li’s death.
This incident has drawn significant attention on mainland social media, with related topics garnering over 70 million views. One online observer remarked, “Teacher Li should have been celebrating his wedding, not bidding farewell to the world while working overtime.” Another netizen commented, “Many companies force employees into ‘voluntary’ overtime through performance pressure and subtle elimination tactics.”
According to Chinese labor law, the standard workweek is eight hours a day, 44 hours a week, with a maximum of 36 hours of overtime per month. However, reports of a culture of overwork continue to emerge.
Last June, a technology company in southeastern China sparked national outrage by implementing a six-day workweek from 8 am to 9 pm. In another case, a start-up programmer slept only two hours a day during busy periods before suffering a brain hemorrhage that left him paralyzed for months.
