China 2014 Holiday Schedule

[Charlie]

I saw this posted elsewhere and figured it would be helpful for people working or studying in China – this is a calendar showing holidays for 2014:

Dates marked red are national holidays and dates marked green are official work days.

[Callum]

I really don’t like the anti-holiday system here.

“Oh here’s a week off, see you on Saturday!”

That one almost makes sense as there’s no such thing as a national week off in the UK. But then working 6 or 7 days in a row ruddy kills me.

Can someone maybe explain the merits of this to me further, because at the moment it jsut frustrates me.

[Charlie]

Callum wrote:

Can someone maybe explain the merits of this to me further, because at the moment it jsut frustrates me.

There really are no merits that I can see, I don’t think this system makes any sense if you approach it logically. It’s just “China”, as with so many things that do not pass make sense when critically analyzed, like keeping windows open in the winter. China is an obedient country of hard and disciplined workers who are largely willing to work overtime after-hours and on weekends for no additional pay. I think that’s where the “work on weekends with no resistance” comes from. I’ve spoken to Chinese colleagues about this and they don’t like this system either but as with most things they disagree with, they are kind of relegated to go with the flow and not make much noise about it.

[Alan]

In theory, one of the benefits is that we get double the pollution in the run up to the holiday but less than average pollution during the holiday…… in theory.

[Rick in China]

Try to work for a company that lets you switch the holidays, ie. ignore the 7 day stretches and swap days as you see fit. 😀

[Charlie]

Alan wrote:

In theory, one of the benefits is that we get double the pollution in the run up to the holiday but less than average pollution during the holiday…… in theory.

That hardly sounds like a benefit!

[Author]

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