Chinesepod - End of "golden week" holidays?

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

End of "golden week" holidays?

(Xinhua )
Updated: 2007-07-02 09:18

The Chinese government is likely to scrap up its "golden week" holiday
system and make public holidays of more traditional festivals by 2009, a
Chinese tourism expert has revealed.

The week-long May Day holiday would be shortened to one day and the
National Day holiday to two days, Zhang Hui, dean of the tourism
administration department at Beijing International Studies University,
told a forum in Xiamen, southeastern China's Fujian province.

Zhang said the conclusion was drawn from discussions among domestic
tourism experts.

To make up for the lost holidays, experts suggested choosing three
traditional festivals as public holidays, according to a story published
in the China Youth Daily.

"Experts all agree that Mid-Autumn Day should be set as a public holiday
and the government can choose two more from the Lantern Festival, the
Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon-Boat Festival and Double Nine Day." Zhang
was quoted as saying.

In addition, compulsory paid vacations, which might be written into the
labor law, would be granted to employees, he said.

Each person will have a basic seven-day paid leave a year, increasing by
one day for every year of employment. The longest paid leave would not
exceed 14 days, he explained.

China has three "golden weeks" for the Spring Festival, May Day and
National Day holidays. The "golden weeks" are actually only three days
holiday as a weekend on one side of the holiday is designated as two
working days.

The Lunar New Year golden week would be preserved, Zhang said.

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