外刊阅读20240512｜中国码农的“35岁魔咒”

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Just months from his 35th birthday, the developer was dismissed, another victim of the group’s reorganisation known internally as “ Limestone ”. Kuaishou is pushing out junior workers in their mid-30s, according to five people with direct knowledge of Limestone, including current and former employees. Laobai was told his termination was part of the company’s overall redundancy programme. Kuaishou declined to comment. The so-called curse of 35 has long plagued workers across white-collar professions, with older staff widely perceived as being less willing to put up with long working hours because of responsibilities at home.

While China’s labour law prohibits employers from discriminating on the grounds of attributes such as ethnicity, gender and religion, it does not explicitly refer to age. But Yang said some had interpreted the law more broadly as prohibiting discrimination against older people, meaning employers would not explicitly cite age as a reason for dismissal.

Chinese tech executives have long publicly voiced their preference for younger workers. In 2019, Tencent president Martin Lau announced a plan to reshuffle 10 per cent of the company’s managers, saying “their jobs will be taken up by younger people, new colleagues who may be more passionate”. Baidu chief Robin Li in an internal letter — also made public in 2019 — announced the company’s plan to “become more youthful by promoting more workers born after 1980 and 1990”.

“Between 20 and 30, most people are full of energy. You are more willing to march forward and sacrifice yourself for the company. But once you become a parent and your body starts ageing, how are you going to keep up with the 996 schedule?” said a former sales manager at Meituan, referring to the Chinese tech sector’s infamous work routine of 9am to 9pm, six days a week.