China’s ‘overtime dogs’ get anthem

Popular song ode to modern office life

BEIJING • After four decades of economic modernization, a new breed of office worker has emerged in China, with the same ambitions and work ethics as their Western counterparts.

But the country’s white collar army, who work some of the longest hours on Earth, also share the downsides of a life spent behind a desk: overtime and irritating bosses.

Now the “overtime dogs” — as they are called in China — have found their battle cry in the form of a wildly popular choir song: My Body Is Hollowed Out.

The rousing anthem, an ode to the lost dream of a “work-life balance,” has struck a chord with the vast numbers of employees who work in China’s gleaming skyscrapers.

More than 20 million people have shared a video of the song on Sina Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, catapulting to stardom the Shanghai amateur choir group behind the track.

With lyrics such as “I haven’t removed my makeup in 18 days” and “my monthly contact lenses have been in for two and a half years,” the song is seen by many in China as the ballad of modern office life. “Who needs sleep? What a waste of time,” the song continues, before reaching its chorus: “My body feels hollowed out, no more overtime, (exhausted), I’m so dog tired.”

The song appears to be a first person account of a female office worker facing the daily grind with a heavy heart.

It also contains a reference to a villainous boss called David who bears an uncanny resemblance to David Brent, Ricky Gervais’s famous version of the “boss from hell” in the British television comedy The Office, later adapted for North American audiences.

“There is a boss called David,” the song says. “He appeared at 6 p.m. with a malicious expression (woof woof). He held some hot coffee in his hand (and said), hey hey hey, let’s have a meeting.”

Other lines include: “I’m really healthy, an all-nighter is not a big deal, I don’t have anything to do at home anyway, so I’d rather stay.”

The average Chinese worker puts in between 2,000 and 2,200 hours a year, a study by Beijing Normal University found in 2014. Canadians work an average of about 1,700 hours a year.

As well as working long hours and being expected to be on call on weekends and evenings, office workers usually only have two weeks’ holiday a year, plus national holidays.

Many on Sina Weibo said they related to the lyrics. “I cried and laughed all the way through when I first listened, it was so much like the experiences I have,” said one post.

“This is exactly how I am feeling on my job lately,” said another.