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Holiday Season

Having just returned from a three-week trip to Southwest China, I was naturally delighted to hear that the Chinese Government plans to award more annual holidays. For those who missed out on the news, possibly because they were too busy working, the “Golden Week” May Holiday has now been scrapped, to be replaced by three separate holidays at different times of the year.

Although the new holiday system seems incredibly complicated, involving such vagaries as the Moon’s orbit around the Earth and the exact numerical value of pi, it appears as though the lucky citizens of China (and its expatriates) will now be able to enjoy 115 days of rest per year, as opposed to the previous 114. Before you get too excited, that includes weekends (Saturday was only added as a legal rest day in China in 1995).

To me, the abolishment of all Golden Weeks would seem like a smart move. Introduced to stimulate “domestic consumption,” some might say they have done their job too well. Although revenue from travel reached a heady 64.2 billion yuan in October 2007’s festive period, anyone who has witnessed the hordes who regularly descend on places like Jiuzhaigou at this time will realize that the word “Golden” in Golden Week is more related to hard cash and less to the actual enrichment of our lives.

For me, a freelancer working in China, the very definition of both holidays and weekends is pretty much a moot point anyway. If I want to swan around in Tibet for three weeks in March or stay in bed on a Thursday afternoon, I don't need to ask anyone’s permission, although a lifestyle of indolence doesn’t usually improve the bank balance and has incurred the wrath of more than a few editors.

Indeed, it was only when my mother was boarding her plane back to London recently and mentioned presents (Shengdan liwu) that I realized Christmas (Shengdanjie) is fast approaching us yet again. Back in England people will already be trying to remember where they left boxes of decorations, and those that actually like turkey will be measuring the insides of their oven. Here in China, Christmas will probably be a one-day anticlimactic affair, despite the widespread appearance of Santa (Shengdan Laoren) in shopping malls and overpriced gluhwein in Beijing bars.

Of course, we still have the best Chinese holiday to look forward to, which everyone knows is Spring Festival (Chunjie). Firecrackers galore, temple fairs, lantern parades and jiaozi with the in-laws: for me, Chinese New Year (xinnian) always makes up for the disappointment of Christmas, and truly is a “Golden” Week, even if those unfortunate enough to have proper jobs have to work the weekend before. Just think of Christmas as a warm-up.