China is not the birthplace of so called '996'. Long before tech scene in China, there are a lot of investment banks doing that in HK especially for junior analysts. Calling 996 a China thing is just orientlalism. Everything bad is Chinese, everything good is western.
At least the recent popularity of the 996 originated in China, and I believe most Chinese people would agree with that. Besides, even if it started in Hong Kong, saying it originated in China is still technically correct.
China is the birthplace of the term 996. Of course it's not the birthplace of people being coerced into unhealthy work hours - that's been around for thousands of years.
There is probably little to nothing specifically Chinese about workaholism as a concept, but the word is definitely Chinese(as in language). Dialect continuum for East Asian languages are contained within borders, or in other words, each of the languages expanded and dominated to the full extents of continuum and hit with stagnation at major geographical features before entering the modern era.
