Survey shows holiday preference_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Survey shows holiday preference

In 2008, the State Council designated 11 national holidays every year, for Spring Festival, National Day, New Year, Chinese Tomb-Sweeping Day, Labor Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.

The options published by the national holiday office follow the State Council regulation, while also linking national holidays to scheduled weekend days off to extend the time off.

"The third package is a little better than the others," wrote one voter using the name qianli chanjuan, a phrase from a well-known poem about separated families. "But I strongly advise the government to increase the holiday for Spring Festival. For a migrant worker like me, Spring Festival is the only time all year I can travel the long distance back home to rejoin my family, but the seven-day holiday is barely enough for the round trip."

Cai Jiming, director of the Center for Political Economy at Tsinghua University, said his research team has submitted proposals to authorities to increase the Spring Festival holiday by two days.

"Many people are asking for more holidays at Spring Festival. If we can add two days to the current three-day Spring Festival holiday to make it five days, and if Chinese New Year's Eve happens to fall on Monday, adding the two weekend days, the length of the holiday would be extended to nine days without the complexity caused by adjusting weekends," Cai said.

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.