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Longer holidays will boost economy

Li Hongyang
Updated: Apr 5,2019 8:04 AM     China Daily

During the two sessions held last month, top lawmakers and advisers proposed longer national public holidays.

They said the public holidays that China currently has are not long enough to enjoy some leisure activities, such as traveling and going home to visit family. Hence, they proposed to extend the Labor Day holiday from one to seven days-restoring the original Labor Day holiday period which was in place before 2008.

The country has now 25 days of public holidays a year, excluding weekends. With the exception of Lunar New Year and National Day holidays which both have a duration of seven days each, other holiday periods range from one to three days.

In addition to the national public holidays as legally required, most countries worldwide provide paid annual leave for employees.

While companies in developed regions like the European Union usually offer at least 20 days of annual leave for those who have just started working, companies in China usually offer only five days of annual leave to new employees.

Last July, the tourism research center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences did an online survey with 2,552 workers nationwide.

The results show that about 40 percent of those surveyed said they were not entitled to take any paid annual leave at all, and 4 percent said they could not take annual leave even though they were entitled to do so.

Liu Yuanju, a researcher with nonprofit research organization the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, said that the Chinese are not enjoying high-quality holidays or paid vacations.

“Public holidays are so short. For example, during the Mid-Autumn Festival which is just three days, people do not have time to do anything like traveling or have reunions with their families living in different provinces,” Liu said.

“Also, Chinese people now do not have enough paid vacations compared with workers from some countries. In some small companies or small cities, employers usually do not guarantee giving their workers all the required legal vacations.”

A 30-year-old engineer, who only gave his surname as Wang, worked at a manufacturing company in Beijing and quit the job last year. He had only 10 days of annual leave.

He said that due to the heavy workload and “unspoken rules” of his boss, he was not able to take all the annual leave allotted to him.

“My former company operates 24 hours a day, so it requires engineers to be on standby to tackle the problem anytime, anywhere. It was demanding because a minor mistake might cause a big loss, so working overtime was a culture there,” Wang said.

“We usually worked night shifts, or sometimes even on public holidays. I took just five days of my annual leave last year. I did not dare take too many days off because that meant my colleagues had to take on extra work for my sake.”

Ren Xuanda, who has worked in a technology company in Beijing for three years, said that he prefers enjoying leisure time during his annual leave rather than on public holidays.

“Scenic spots are too crowded during long public holidays since everyone else is taking time off too,” Ren said.

“Airports, trains and accommodations are fully booked in advance during the National Day holidays for example.

“I have more freedom to choose more places to travel to and at better timings during my annual leave. I don’t have to see large crowds of people.”

However, Liu said that there are many unspoken rules that may potentially stop employees from exercising their legal rights.

“Due to company culture, workers who fear falling behind would outperform those industrious colleagues by working hard and hoping to gain an edge for promotion,” he said.

“So, they are willing to sacrifice several days of vacation, or even all, for a better career. And when having to choose between keeping the job and taking fully paid vacations, most people may give up the latter.”

Enforcing the paid annual leave policy has been a constant and important issue for the central government.

From 2015, the policy had been emphasized in the Government Work Report for three consecutive years. In addition, a 2016 tourism development plan issued by the State Council highlighted that implementation of the paid annual leave policy should be enhanced.

As the full implementation of the paid annual leave policy will be a long-term effort, Liu said that lengthening public holidays would be immediately effective.

“Now, our holidays were set up mainly for the sake of preserving tradition, such as Tomb Sweeping Day and Dragon Boat Festival. They are not for vacation, because they are too short for traveling,” Liu said.

“However, in China, employees attach great importance to national public holidays so as to guarantee leisure time due to the inefficient implementation of paid ones in small companies.

“The economic activities of the whole nation come to a standstill during public holidays and it forces workers from different industries to stop working. So, when those companies can’t make much profit, it is easier for workers to really take time off,” he added.

During the two sessions this year, Xie Jinhong, a deputy to the 13th National People’s Congress from Liaoning province, made a proposal to extend the one-day Labor Day holiday to seven days so that workers can have a happier work life.

She said that a good rest can ensure more productivity to do a better job. Also, longer public holidays can boost tourism.

Zhu Lieyu, a lawyer and a NPC deputy from Guangdong province, said that it is a tradition for most people to go home and visit family and relatives during Spring Festival. In that case, workers have just one other seven-day holiday-National Day-for traveling.

He said that it had become too much of a burden for the transportation and tourism industries in October, so he also recommended restoring the seven-day Labor Day public holiday.

Zhou Shihong, a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference from Anhui province, said that workers should be granted a long holiday in spring.

“Unlike those of just one or three days, holidays should be long enough so that people can relax. Spring days are warm and everything comes back to life and it is comfortable to go on a tour,” Zhou said.

“So, Labor Day should be made into a longer holiday because they are important to the social, cultural and mental demands of workers at present.”