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Jams spark debate on future of 'golden week'

Raymond Li

Scholar argues current holidays unsustainable

As people return from the National Day break, debate continues on whether to persist with the 'golden week' system, which allows the public a week-long holiday twice a year.

The 'golden week' system was introduced in 1999 as part of government efforts to stimulate domestic consumption via an artificially created tourism boom.

It granted three week-long public holidays: at Lunar New Year, International Labour Day on May 1, and National Day.

The Labour Day week was scrapped from this year after much lobbying from concern groups, who see the holidays as a burden on the public transport and tourism resources.

Other public holidays are confined to traditional events such as the grave-sweeping festival in May.

But there has been fresh public debate since a prominent professor at Tsinghua University, Cai Jiming , issued a highly publicised call last month for the abolition of the National Day 'golden week'.

Based on his research on public holidays, Professor Cai wrote on his weblog: 'The golden week arrangement is not a sustainable strategy, so if paid-holiday legislation could be better enforced, the next revamp of public-holiday arrangements should aim to abolish the National Day golden week.

'The best method is to strike a balance between public and paid holidays.'

But many fear the paid-holiday legislation that came into force in January will be difficult to enforce because of a pervasive disregard of workers' rights.

Guangdong Provincial People's Congress deputy Qi Hai, a staunch supporter of the 'golden week' system, said the arrangement should remain even if paid holidays were widely accepted.

Mr Qi said that while paid holidays were designed for people to rest and recuperate, the golden weeks gave people time to get together with family and friends.

Though many have complained of crowding and traffic congestion during golden weeks, most people appear happy with the current arrangement, with more than 80 per cent against Professor Cai's proposal, according to surveys conducted by popular mainland search engine baidu.com and online community tencent.com.

Jin Yang, a university student in Beijing, said he cherished the National Day 'golden week' as it gave his parents time to make the trip from Hangzhou to stay with him, though he admitted they were overwhelmed by crowds in central Beijing.

But he said crowds and traffic would always be issues in such a populous country.

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