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Ms G

I hope everyone has had a wonderful long weekend during Easter and the Independence Day. Talking about weekends, did you know that the Chinese had never had a two-day weekend until the 1990s?

That’s right. The People’s Republic of China adopted a six-day working week upon its birth in 1949.

The only one day off for workers was no time for leisure. Everything they could not tend to during the working days had to be taken care of within the valuable 24 hours—visiting an aged parent, hustling about for all kinds of household chores, and checking on the kid’s homework. The day supposed to give people some rest was in fact more tiring than the weekdays. It was described as a “fighting Sunday” that could keep you fatigued on Monday.

Off days in general, not only weekends, were a luxury in China back in those years. There were only seven days of official holidays around the year — one for 1 January, three for the Chinese Spring Festival, one for 1 May the International Workers’ Day, and two for 1 October  the national day.

In the 1980s, a Chinese government official responsible for science and technology development discovered during his many business trips abroad that, in Europe and North America, where workers were having five-day or even four-and-a-half-day weeks, efficiency at work was impressive and tourism and education sectors were growing well.

After much thinking over, he made a proposal to his superior, the director of the national science commission, for shortening the working days. His idea was well received. A government team was set up to study the feasibility of a five-day working week.

According to their findings, Chinese workers under the six-day regime were putting in many less than productive hours-– only 40 to 60 percent of their working time was fully utilised. The team came to the conclusion at the end of their study in 1987 that China was ready for five-day weeks and advised that the authorities roll out the system across the country before 2000.

But the ministry for labour preferred a more modest approach as a form of transition. In 1994, a plan to alternate between one-day and two-day weekends was announced, commonly dubbed as the “big week, small week” arrangement.

Many Chinese made their first trip for pleasure during that time. After a one-year trial, the 48-hour weekend was fully adopted in 1995.

The government’s decision came as such a pleasant surprise that many found it difficult to believe. On the first weekend after the introduction of the new system, newspapers across the country reported workers still showing up in the office on Saturday, having forgotten the latest addition to their labour rights.

The changes to the weekends were followed by more days added to national holidays. Today, the Chinese enjoy 11 days as national holidays around the year, which include festivals traditionally celebrated in the Chinese culture, such as Ching Ming in April for remembering the departed, Dragon Boat Festival in June to honour the memory of an ancient patriotic poet, and the mid-Autumn Festival in September for family reunion.

Some of these festivals can trace back thousands of years. These new national holidays have become a great vehicle for preserving cultural traditions and knitting closer family ties.

However, the Chinese remains a not well rested nation. Some statistics show that China ranks the 33rd out of 62 countries in terms of the number of public holidays. Some developed nations may not have long national holidays; but their workers are compensated by much longer paid annual leave.

And with working overtime still a dominant culture in the Chinese society, these national holidays are often encroached upon by work.

There is a growing voice from all walks of life in China to keep extra working hours in check. Some companies are taking to lead to make it mandatory for employees to leave office before 6 pm. But more remains to be done to have the workaholic Chinese clock out on time.