Just last month, the Communist Party delivered new plans to reshuffle China's rigid national holiday system, left over from the years of hard line Maoism. It consists of three major 3-day holidays: Spring Festival (starting on Chinese New Year and usually in February), Labor Week (starting on May 1) and National Week (starting on October 1). For each 3-day holiday, the Saturday prior becomes a work/school day as well as the following Sunday. Therefore, by mere substitution the Chinese can have rest from a Sunday to a Saturday for eac holiday. Naturally, this idea of going to school on a Sunday may sound inconceivable to a Westerner rooted in the traditions of the church.
Students have breaks between semesters, but workers are only legally allotted break during the specified dates mentioned above to take rest, go travelling, or return to their hometown to see their families. Thus the word for "holiday" and "vacation"- jiaqi - is the same in Chinese. The concept of choosing to go on vacation outside a national holiday seems foreign since most Chinese companies do not allow workers to take time off other than those days required by the government. The argument for such a structured system is straightforward - its easy, nationalistic, and convenient for families with two-working parents. However, the prevailing paradigms no longer stick and its inspiring to witness the system in the midst of a reform. China and the Chinese people can no longer continue along this socialist holiday planning approach for three main reasons.
One, 1.3 billion people. Need I say more. Imagine everyone in the US taking to the highways, train stations, and airports in one massive surge - and then multiply that by four. Public transportation in utter chaos, people stuffing into train cars like they were trying to outrun a war, tickets being sold out weeks or even months in advance. In my personal experience, the national holidays are the worst time to travel. Besides public transportation, popular tourist spots and nature retreats are overwhelmed and hotels always jack up their rates - many expats take one look at these abominable conditions and skip out of China - usually to Thailand, Korea, or Indonesia.
Two, when the system was created, social mobility was pretty much at a standstill. But in the last 30 years, at least a quarter of a billion Chinese have left their rural hometowns to realize their dreams in the cities, primarily along the eastern coastline. The metropolitan areas of Shenzhen-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Hangzhou-Suzhou, and Beijing-Tianjin each receive thousands of new residents every day with millions more expected in the next few years. When the holidays come, this migrant population exits the city to see their families back in the heart of the mainland. Shenzhen in 1982 was a farm town with only 300,000 residents or so - today this emerald city across the river from Hong Kong is approaching the 10 million mark. But during family holidays like Chinese New Year, big cities like Shenzhen and Beijing become ghost towns, and foreigners rule the streets!!!
Three, the growing stress on public transportation and infrastructure is not just because China is getting bigger and more people are working far from their families, but because many more people can live comfortably now and have enough money to take the kid (not kids) to see the terracotta warriors, or the home of Confucius, or the Panda Reserve in Sichuan Province. The society is modernizing and the Chinese are developing new tastes for history, culture, and nature - and sight-seeing around China is the best way to satisfy these natural desires. As we see China's middle class balloon at rapid speeds, we will also see many more Chinese tourists overseas - and the international tourist industry is currently preparing for this inevitable explosion.
The new reform will shorten Labor Week in May (interesting choice for "socialist" country) and will give one-day holidays on three separate occasions: Dragon Boat Festival (in June), Tomb Sweeping Day (in April) and the Moon Festival (in October). All of these traditional holidays contain interesting stories and customs and will hopefully elaborate on them when the time comes.
All in all, the reform is a important first step towards the dismantling of national holiday planning and will help unclog the countries arteries during a normally congested May. I look forward to the day the Communist Party revamps the whole system and implements a new labor law that requires employers to give a certain number of vacation days. Then Chinese will know know what it's like like to go on a vacation - without the whole country.
Monday, December 17, 2007
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