Golden Mess 2013

[Randy W]

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from Xinhua, with an interesting caveat about 'paid vacations', like people in other countries are used to.

National Day holiday: Golden Week, or golden mess?

Highways turned into "free parking lots;" high-speed trains shuttled with the minimum possible intervals but still struggled to take the strain; armed police were summoned to help evacuate stranded crowds...

These are not screen shots from Hollywood blockbuster 2012 but rather a reality show currently taking place in China, where 1.3 billion people are on their 14th week-long National Day holiday.

Since the holiday kicked off on Tuesday, relatively comfortable weather across the country, toll-free highways, admission ticket discounts, and lower gas prices have combined to make this so-called Golden Week the best time for traveling.

At least that was the theory. But such miracles rarely happen when millions of minds think alike -- the hustle and bustle of crowds have been seen almost everywhere.

 

. . .

 

February saw the State Council, China's cabinet, announce a new program promoting domestic tourism. It says that a paid annual leave system will have been basically implemented by 2020, meaning all employers will be encouraged to subscribe to it by this point.

Both the program and the Tourism Law emphasize tourism and leisure welfare for ordinary people.

However, in reality employees who can take paid vacations are mainly from government organizations and state-owned enterprises. Most people working for labor-intensive and private firms face practical difficulties in enjoying the vacation. Their employers can simply decline their request.

Even if they are allowed time off, they could be skating on thin ice, with employers taking time off facing losing their jobs or promotion opportunities, such is the fierce competition for employment. It is rare to hear of employers not in some way punishing their staff for enjoying paid vacations. The week-long National Day holiday therefore becomes a "legal" time for these people to travel.