Young Chinese tutor dies at work after months of overwork, managing 400 students

On April 22, Li went to the office and worked late into the night. He had been doing extra work to finish his tasks before a holiday, SCMP reported. When his fiancée couldn’t reach him, she contacted the police. The next morning, a janitor found him unresponsive at his desk. He had died of sudden cardiac arrest.

Li’s family said he came from a humble background. His father had passed away, and he was the second of two children. He and his fiancée were planning to get married on May 2.

The local labour department is helping the family and the company with paperwork to confirm Li’s death as work-related.

The company issued a statement on April 25 saying it was ‘deeply saddened’ and promised to support the family. It added that no overtime had been scheduled that day, as the firm was on holiday. It also praised Li as a hardworking and responsible employee.

But many people online doubted the company’s statement. “Are they trying to say he chose to work overtime? No one overworks for fun. It’s because of pressure,” one person commented on social media, as quoted by SCMP.

The company has faced similar complaints in the past. SCMP reported that teachers often had to respond to hundreds of messages from parents and worked six extra hours daily. Some even had to ask for permission to go to the toilet or eat lunch.

A former employee, surnamed Wang, said the stress made her anxious and she quit last year. Another, surnamed Zhang, resigned the day after hearing about Li’s death.

The tragedy has drawn a lot of attention on Chinese social media, with the topic gathering over 70 million views.

“Li should have been getting married, not dying at his desk,” one user wrote. Another said, “Many companies force employees into ‘voluntary’ overtime through pressure and fear.”

Although Chinese law limits work to eight hours a day and no more than 36 hours of overtime a month, overwork remains common. SCMP recalled previous cases, like a tech worker who suffered a brain haemorrhage after sleeping just two hours a night.

Li’s story has become a heartbreaking reminder of the hidden cost of China’s intense work culture.