In recent years, the Chinese economy has been continuously declining, with domestic consumption remaining sluggish. Last month, the Chinese Communist government released its first five-year plan to promote consumption, followed by several provinces implementing paid vacations and encouraging off-peak travel to boost consumption.
On August 6th, the First Financial Daily reported that recently in an episode of the “Two Perspectives” program on First Finance, Luo Zhiheng, Chief Economist and Director of the Research Institute at Yuekai Securities, mentioned that service consumption is different from product consumption. Activities like getting a haircut or watching a movie require time, and supply and demand in this sector occur simultaneously.
In this situation, ordinary people need more holidays.
He pointed out that China’s vacation system currently faces several problems.
Firstly, some people can’t take vacations. In traditional manufacturing companies, the rule of working 5 days and resting 2 days is not always implemented due to inadequate labor supervision.
Secondly, the duration of vacations is insufficient in China compared to international standards.
Thirdly, the quality of holidays is lacking. In China, some holidays are improvised to fulfill the requirement. To address these issues, it is necessary to break the time constraints on consumption and increase holidays.
It is worth noting that China officially implemented the two-day weekend system starting from May 1, 1995, reducing the weekly working hours from 48 to 40, a statutory regulation that has been in place for 31 years.
On August 6th, the topic labeled “two-day weekend” trended on Weibo.
Netizens expressed confusion, questioning why the promotion of the two-day weekend is aimed at boosting consumption rather than complying with labor laws.
Some argued that having no money renders extended holidays useless, emphasizing that increased wages or issuance of shopping vouchers would be more effective in stimulating consumption.
The Chinese Communist government issued the “Expansion of Consumption in the 15th Five-Year Plan” in July 2026, targeting a total retail consumption of 60 trillion RMB by 2030. It acknowledges issues such as lengthy working hours, low incomes, and household financial difficulties among the Chinese population.
It can be analyzed that the Chinese Communist Party’s five-year plan to promote consumption may have misconstrued the direction it should take.