One of China’s wealthiest men, Jack Ma, founder of tech giant Alibaba, is urging his employees to have more sex in pursuit of a better work-life balance.

Mr Ma gave a lighthearted speech at an event at which dozens of Alibaba couples were married in a group ceremony, stressing that a balanced home life was important for long-term happiness and health, and dubbed his philosophy “669”.

“We want 669 in life. What is 669? Six times in six days; the emphasis is on nine,” he said at a company gathering, referring to sex, and using a play on words, as the word “nine” in Mandarin is a homophone for the word “long.”

Mr Ma’s “669” was in reference to a popular term that describes the Chinese industry’s work culture of “996” – a rough schedule of 9 am to 9pm, six days a week.

That’s 72 hours a week, often without overtime pay. Overworking is common in China, seen as a way to show dedication to your job.

But it became controversial recently after Mr Ma endorsed the overwork culture, posting online in April that “to be able to work 996 is huge bliss,” arguing then that milestones only come with great sacrifice.