In the news on May 3, 2024, the May Day holiday in China, starting from May 1st to May 5th, appears to be a 5-day break but in reality, only one day off is provided. The Chinese Communist Party’s move to boost consumption and stimulate domestic demand by adjusting working days to create this short holiday has sparked public discontent.
In recent days, the phrase “May Day holiday actually only has one day off” has surged in popularity on social media, triggering discussions. Many netizens have lamented that with the rescheduling of the Tomb Sweeping Festival holiday in April and the May Day holiday, consecutive weekends under the “piece together holidays” model have turned into single days off, resulting in three consecutive six-day work weeks. Many netizens have expressed their wish to have normal holidays and weekends.
Chinese economist Ma Guangyuan stated on his Weibo account “Guangyuan Looking at the Economy”: “The term ‘May Day long holiday’ is worth questioning, because during ‘May 1st’, only one day is actually a holiday, two days are weekends, and the other two days are adjusted days off. In other words, four out of the five days were originally designated for rest.”
Recently, Peng Han, Chief Analyst of Global Travel News, revealed in an interview with Chinese media that from a public opinion perspective, there is significant dissatisfaction with the rescheduling and “piecing together holidays” model. At its core, this model does not increase the total holiday duration for individuals but rather shifts work days around, leaving the public to catch up on missed work days after enjoying their holidays.
Peng Han emphasized that the direction of this model is obvious – it is not designed to allow the public to truly “rest” but rather to concentrate holidays for the purpose of boosting consumer spending. Therefore, public dissatisfaction with this system is understandable and prevalent.
Video blogger and microblog influencer “Jinli Six Treasures” remarked: “If there is no intention to increase statutory holidays, then please do not forcefully create a false prosperity of a five-day long holiday by means of patching together days. If there is a genuine need for people to spend more and go out, be generous, give a few more days off, and stop being stingy every day.”
Video blogger and microblog influencer “Miss Tarot Tong” added: “The intention is not to let you rest but to make you consume.”