According to media reports such as Southern Metropolis Daily, a young teacher named Li from Yuanfudao’s Wuhan office recently died suddenly in the office. Under the capitalist system, in pursuit of absolute surplus value, capitalists continuously extend working hours to alleviate the trend of declining profit rates. This inhumane system not only oppresses manual laborers but also increasingly burdens so-called “decent” intellectual workers.
It is reported that Li graduated with a bachelor’s degree from a well-known university in Wuhan in 2020 and later joined Yuanfudao. On the afternoon of April 22, he went to work as usual but worked overtime until late at night and did not respond to his fiancée’s messages. His fiancée sensed something was wrong, called the police, and went to the company with them. Due to access restrictions, they could not enter the office area. It was not until the morning of April 23 that a cleaner discovered Li while cleaning the office; by then, he had already stopped breathing.
According to media reports, Li was scheduled to hold his wedding in May and planned to take leave. However, Yuanfudao linked his workload to his salary, forcing him to complete work ahead of the wedding date, which led to frantic overtime and ultimately his sudden death. Li’s death was not an accident but an inevitable product of the capitalist system. In fact, as early as April 2023, journalists had infiltrated Yuanfudao to expose its widespread overtime culture: working from 9 am to past midnight, performance pressure, harsh punishment mechanisms, and even rules such as “being fired from the team if leaving the workstation.” Although the company formally “rectified” after media exposure, the essence remained unchanged—the work intensity did not decrease, salary was still linked to task volume, and so-called “voluntary overtime” was nothing but blatant systemic coercion.
Facing public opinion, the real culprits—the capitalists of Yuanfudao—put on a show by issuing statements saying, “We and the employee’s family are deeply saddened.” They then quickly shifted responsibility by emphasizing, “The incident occurred on a compensatory day off; no overtime was arranged.” However, the reality is that under the mechanism linking workload to salary, workers must continuously increase labor intensity even without “arranged” overtime to avoid layoffs. Yuanfudao’s explanation is just a typical excuse—the capitalists only shed tears for their profits, never mourning the lives of workers.
Recently, more and more monopoly capitalists, such as Midea and DJI, have begun hypocritically “opposing involution,” attempting to whitewash their exploitation of workers. But these “anti-involution” stances usually only concern some intellectual workers, while the vast majority of industrial workers, migrant workers, and grassroots laborers continue to struggle under heavy exploitation. In today’s fully decadent imperialism, even seemingly “technical elites” like programmers and teachers must face increasingly simplified yet heavier labor under the conditions imposed by capital.
Li’s death was not an accident but an inevitability of the capitalist system. In this system, workers are merely appendages of capital; once overworked to “scrap,” they can be replaced at will. Yuanfudao’s “crocodile tears” are nothing but wolves mourning sheep.
Recently, there was also news of a sudden death of a Xiaomi employee. I even saw an account on NetEase News that specializes in celebrity gossip write a commentary on this incident. At the end of the article, they posted a picture of Chairman Mao and quoted from the “Communist Manifesto”: “Workers of the world, unite!” and “They have nothing to lose but their chains; they have a world to win.”
This is not just a feeling, it’s the truth!!
(I am still undergoing ideological transformation, so the following views carry a small-bourgeoisie nuance. Please discern carefully.)
A long time ago, specifically here, in 2020, the double reduction policy was implemented (this is a policy directly issued by the Central State Council). On the surface, this policy aims to reduce students’ burdens, but in reality, it increases them. External tutoring institutions indeed decreased, but they became more covert, charging higher fees. Schools instead started offering late-night care, making students go home at 9 p.m., with homework until 11 p.m., and teachers charging 3 or 5 yuan per class, I don’t remember exactly. Exam scores are still required to improve year by year, and exams are becoming more difficult each year. If you try to reduce burdens and can’t meet the score requirements, you’ll fail, and you’ll have to keep competing, so what is this so-called reduction? It’s just an empty shell.
Some people might know that in high schools, there is now a trend to implement double rest days. Let me explain: over a decade ago, high school students went home at 5 p.m. every day and had double rest days. Later, boarding was required, turning it into a monthly leave system: half a month home, half a month on campus (once a month in senior year). Students had less than two hours off per week. Then, the cunning education bureau came up with a crooked idea: to implement double rest days, forcing students to go home on weekends. Some cities have already started doing this, while counties are more gradual.
Someone said: Isn’t this good? Nonsense. Our student leader (teaching politics) glossed over it saying, “What does stimulating domestic demand mean? (Implementing double rest days) External tutoring institutions will inevitably experience explosive growth, which can stimulate domestic demand.” What does this prove? The so-called double reduction, reduction of burdens, actually did not suppress the proliferation of tutoring institutions; instead, it helped them grow. It also allowed teachers to use this time to open classes and make money. The so-called double rest days are just better ways to drain the blood and flesh from the people.
This is just one corner of the corruption of capitalism’s education system.
Note: The 3 yuan fee is for a single student. Teachers can earn at least 120 yuan for an evening class, which is already far more than the normal cost of a single lesson.
