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Posts: 69

Governor

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Q: Chinese public holidays - An illusion?

Is it just me or the concept of Chinese public holidays is a total illusion? 

 

I mean you are given 7 days of holiday and then you will have to be working for seven days straight to compensate the days you weren't working, or even more. Really? 

 

Nothing pisses me off most than having to spend a whole weekend working after a holiday. These people are given only a few days to rest (7 days holidays which end up being 5 days, after you spend 2 days traveling in horrific conditions because you had to purchase your low cost ticket a long time before you went to travel since you and the entire China are traveling at the same time because China doesn't know yet what paid holidays whenever you decide to are, therefore they have to put up with all the stress of public holidays) and I believe they all think they actually have a legitimate holiday.

 

Saying Chinese people do actually have a holiday is an anecdote to me. 

 

10 years 14 weeks ago in  General  - China

 
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Posts: 9631

Emperor

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I think the people in the North Korean labor camps envy the Chinese public holidays. Personally I think it's a complete joke. Working the following weekend to make up, I'd rather not have the ' holiday' then.

TMaster:

Funny, I heard colleagues talk about this very subject the other day. One was compaining that this year, they would only have one day of """holidays""" (three quotes should do it) on january 1st, instead of the usual long week (Golden Week, if I borrow the hilarious official verbose).

The second colleague answered : "You know, we can't have too many holidays, it doesn't suit the "国情", if we don't work, we won't have money, how do some prople survive without money?"

 

What does this sentence say to me is that having paid holidays is actually still out of mental reach, and that people are even ready to think up excuses to make attempts at rationalizing that, on this subject just like on many others, instead of moving collective asses and try to go explain that employees having rests and holidays contributes directly to their productivity, as opposed to spending their life at the office sleeping or trying very hard not to come by anything to do.

10 years 14 weeks ago
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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
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I dont mind it at all. Back in Canada id get two weeks paid but have to use some of that for xmas week, but in china, work a few weekends and it turns into a week in may, a week in october, and two weeks in jan/feb, by my calculation thats way more chances to travel than we would get back home. Only spring festival is the crazy travel time so just use that to go home or travel out of china. add that with the shorter " 3 day holidays" and i get to travel more than i ever could back home so yeah thats easily worth working a few weekends.

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Shifu

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Before 1989, there was political system called communism in our country.

but still we did not have this funny systems. just  once or twice a year, there was an " working saturday" , which somehow compensate some missing work to meet the five-year-plan. but, never ever sundays ...

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Governor

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I agree with op, it's crazy. Besides, there are no paid vacations here, not like back home when we have a month of vacations and we can choose when to use it.

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Shifu

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It is like everything in China, just an illusion. Everything here is a con, you are either ripped off in terms of quality, cost or time. Quite a few people I have spoken to did not even realise they were being conned, they just accept this stupid bloody system as being normal. I have described China before as a third world country with a first world gloss, the longer I am here the more and more gloss I see peeling off.

Visco8:

Totally agree with you! However,the dyanamics have changed here in recent years is that with the Internet & so many Chinese travelling/living overseas, the people are not so easily fooled by the Govt. as were used to.

Thats why so many wealthy & students are all emigrating. They know there's a better life beyond & are sick of hearing the bs over & over again

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This is ever so slightly off topic. One of the final straws at my work was when were were told we'd be 'given' (as a great favour) the contractually agreed five days of discretionary holidays, although not at a time of our choosing. Then, the next line was "and, after you get back, it will be a very busy time, so we need you to work six days a week for two months." Um.... 

 

 

royceH:

HAARRR!  That's a good one!

And I'd bet London to a brick to locals were all as happy as Larry!!

 

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Yup, the same old story of "we give you a day ! But you will have to give it back, with 12 days of work straight", joys of the life in a China. My wife says it's normal, it makes sense... Me, it's "does not compute".

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Well in Europe, exactly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I had salary of 250 EUR, 12 hours working shifts, 2 days day shift, 2 days night shift, 2 days free. Which is 20 days x 12 hours. 240 working hours in one month. I need to stay overtime if there is lot of work to do, sometimes 2-3 hours after my regular shift, which added 20-30 additional hours per month, overtime not paid.

 

About holidays, we had January 1 free, May 1 free, other national holidays not apply for us. When somebody go to vacation we work every day 12 hours, because there is one missing person, 360 hours in one month.

 

You can compare China and Europe (Southeast Europe)

Vyborg:

Too bad! Compare North-West Europe: 38 hours a week, 25 days off a year plus holidays like Christmas, New Year, Easter, and salaries starting at 1200 Euro.

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Shifu

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I hate the ' You can have Wednesday and Thursday as 'holiday' but you have to work Saturday and Sunday next weekend'

Chinese obviously don't know the meaning of 'holiday'

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i figured all the holidays up one time and came up with 23 days and then subtract the makeup days of 13 and i got 10 real days off, the same as i got in america, add up the federal holidays for a government worker in canada , america , china , and russia, subtract the make up days and the number is between 10 to 12 in all 4 countries. market competition or keeping up with the rest of the world's labor patterns and laws, makes you wonder about the conspiracy nuts and "the new world order".

Scandinavian:

it's funny how when you use the US as a yardstick, sometimes China doesn't look all that bad....

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Posts: 915

Shifu

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All good points made, but what gets my goat is that my employer in China refers to the weekend as "holiday" time, as if it is a huge favor the company does for us. Shenme?

Is that like a vestige from olden times or what?

Why take a Tuesday off yet have to "repay" it to the man on a Sunday? At my company we call that bullshit a "noliday".

When I lived in Spain (and everywhere else in the world), the weekend was simply... the weekend.

And when I lived in Barcelona, Spain, we got national holidays, provincial holidays, city holidays, religious holidays and one month off in summer. All paid. Those were and are holidays!

And to rub it in even further, from July to September back in Catalonia, we got 4-day work weeks! WTF! Hey, it was summertime! Had to clock some beach time somewhere during the week. Yup. We started work a bit earlier - 8 AM instead of 9 or 9:30 and left the office at 3. Monday thru Thursday. Three-day weekends for three "holy" months.

Paid in full. Plus DOUBLE pay twice a year: summer and Christmas. 14 paychecks a year.

Man, I loved Spain and working for a Spanish company!

(Post script: Okay, things may have changed a bit - or considerably - since I lived and worked there, but the culture of work remains the same. And I'm not referencing the high unemployment rate in Spain. Officially, there's always been high unemployment.. But it's the submerged economy that keeps the country afloat. Ahh well, I'm off topic...)

 

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Governor

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it's definitely an illusion 

this is one of the reasons i'm leaving China, have been working for 13 months now and no holidays, had to make up everyday of holiday in weekends 

 

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