China’s new public holiday arrangement causes widespread discontent

China’s new public holiday arrangement causes widespread discontent
Dec 12, 2013 01:08
LONELYJOURNEY Points: Join Date: Oct 28, 2009 Status: offline	China National Holiday Office has issued 2014 Holiday Arrangement after conducting two surveys widely on some very popular portals like People’s Daily, Xinhuanet, Sohu, Sina and ifeng.com. The public shows their discontent on the new holiday plan while some experts praise that the new plan has improved much. Why is the public dissatisfied with the new plan? The number of days for holidays hasn’t increased though many people hoped that they could enjoy more holidays in 2014. To their surprise, 2014 Spring Festival Holidays starts from Jan. 1 to 7 on Chinese lunar calendar, which means the Chinese New Year Eve is not included in the Spring Festival Holidays anymore. Chinese New Year Eve is very important to Chinese people. Chinese families hold a grand feast and celebrate the forthcoming New Year together. For those who work outside their hometowns, they do their best to go back home and reunite with their families no matter how far they are from their hometowns. Since millions of people rush home to enjoy New Year Banquet, the railways and highways suffer more serious traffic pressure. As a result, Spring Festival Transportation occurs. If you take train or long distance bus during the Spring Festival Transportation Period, you will know how important Chinese New Year is for Chinese people. Sadly, the Chinese New Year Eve has been excluded from the 2014 Spring Festival Holidays. How many people will lose the opportunity to reunite with their families and celebrate the Chinese New Year? Cai Jiming, a professor from Qinghua University who has been researching on holiday reform, airs his opinion in an interview. According to him, the new holiday plan for 2014 has drawn on the public opinion. The past holiday plans were not reasonable. People usually had to work more than five days after they enjoyed their holidays. The situation has changed a bit in 2014 holiday plan. Liu Simin, a researcher of China Academy of Social Sciences, says those who are dissatisfied with the new holiday plan are not rational. The holiday plans before 2008 required that the Spring Festival started from the Jan 1 on Chinese lunar calendar instead of Chinese New Year Eve. According to traditional concepts of Chinese people, Chinese New Year starts from Jan 1 to 15 on Chinese lunar calendar. The new 2014 holiday plan just adheres to the traditional concepts.

Dec 12, 2013 01:08

LONELYJOURNEY
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Join Date: Oct 28, 2009
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China National Holiday Office has issued 2014 Holiday Arrangement after conducting two surveys widely on some very popular portals like People’s Daily, Xinhuanet, Sohu, Sina and ifeng.com. The public shows their discontent on the new holiday plan while some experts praise that the new plan has improved much.

Why is the public dissatisfied with the new plan? The number of days for holidays hasn’t increased though many people hoped that they could enjoy more holidays in 2014. To their surprise, 2014 Spring Festival Holidays starts from Jan. 1 to 7 on Chinese lunar calendar, which means the Chinese New Year Eve is not included in the Spring Festival Holidays anymore.

Chinese New Year Eve is very important to Chinese people. Chinese families hold a grand feast and celebrate the forthcoming New Year together. For those who work outside their hometowns, they do their best to go back home and reunite with their families no matter how far they are from their hometowns. Since millions of people rush home to enjoy New Year Banquet, the railways and highways suffer more serious traffic pressure. As a result, Spring Festival Transportation occurs. If you take train or long distance bus during the Spring Festival Transportation Period, you will know how important Chinese New Year is for Chinese people. Sadly, the Chinese New Year Eve has been excluded from the 2014 Spring Festival Holidays. How many people will lose the opportunity to reunite with their families and celebrate the Chinese New Year?

Cai Jiming, a professor from Qinghua University who has been researching on holiday reform, airs his opinion in an interview. According to him, the new holiday plan for 2014 has drawn on the public opinion. The past holiday plans were not reasonable. People usually had to work more than five days after they enjoyed their holidays. The situation has changed a bit in 2014 holiday plan.

Liu Simin, a researcher of China Academy of Social Sciences, says those who are dissatisfied with the new holiday plan are not rational. The holiday plans before 2008 required that the Spring Festival started from the Jan 1 on Chinese lunar calendar instead of Chinese New Year Eve. According to traditional concepts of Chinese people, Chinese New Year starts from Jan 1 to 15 on Chinese lunar calendar. The new 2014 holiday plan just adheres to the traditional concepts.

Dec 12, 2013 01:08

LONELYJOURNEY
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Join Date: Oct 28, 2009
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I just one question “If the new holiday plan return to Chinese traditional concepts, why can’t the Spring Festival Holiday be extended to 15 days?” I am pretty sure that the policy maker will receive applause if they extend the Spring Festival Holidays.

Sina Weibo conducted a survey on the new holiday plan for 2014. More than 43000 participants aired their opinions just in two hours. 87.6 percent of them oppose that Chinese New Year Eve is not included in the Spring Festival Holidays. 84 percent are dissatisfied with the 2014 Holiday Plan.

Some netizens make a joke of the constitutors who make out the 2014 Holiday Plan. They do believe the constitutors are not Chinese people. Instead, they are foreigners who know nothing about Chinese traditional culture.

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