Opinion | Mass vacations are no holiday
Having Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day fall so close together points out flaws in mainland's top-down system of deciding days off
Here is the question: if your government decreed that, starting from September 16, you will work for three days then have a three-day holiday; go back to work for six days, then take a day off; work two more days followed by a seven-day holiday; then work for another five days before taking yet another day off, what would you say? Probably that your government is bonkers.
Well, this is precisely the holiday arrangement that the central government has planned for mainlanders during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holidays this year.
It is high time that the government stopped meddling in people's lives, no matter how good its intentions.
China has come a long way since the old days when the government was a cradle-to-grave manager, controlling almost every aspect of people's lives - in some cases even choosing their spouses.
But old habits die hard as government officials appear unwilling to let go of any opportunity to micromanage the masses, citing their lofty intentions.
The chaotic holiday schedules for the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holidays are the latest example.