Rumours of mass layoffs swept through two of China's biggest tech companies in the last half of March

The companies: iFlytek (科大讯飞) and NetEase (网易).

Both denied they were planning to make cuts.

But the rumours continued to swirl.

And nobody believed their denials.

Because the fear isn't really about these two companies. It's about what's coming for the whole of China;’s tech industry, and the people who work in it.

With many tech workers now fearing they'll be replaced by AI very soon.

That shift is what we're unpacking in this week's RealTime Mandarin →