China lives up to its reputation: you will have to work on Saturday and Sunday to compensate for May 1 public holidays

By: Souleymane Loum |

The vast majority of employees on the planet are looking forward to the day off – paid and non-working – which will be given to them this Wednesday, May 1, to celebrate International Labor Day. This global tradition, generally festive, will have an extremely bitter taste for the Chinese this year. This nation, which does nothing like the others, has gone so far as to pass two public holidays in addition to May 1st. So 3 days of relaxation, are unique in the world. What is the demand of the people? Except that the individuals would do without this “generosity” given what the Chinese authorities are requesting in exchange…

Or rather what they demand because in this matter the workers did not have a say, as on all other subjects, minor or major. Don’t dream, we’re in China. The central authorities have decided that workers will be unemployed on May 1 and the rest of the week, but they will have to be reimbursed by working on a Saturday and a Sunday, on April 28 and May 11, reports Courrier International. The Chinese will have a mega 5-day weekend but there is a price to pay.

So there you have it, fake leave for a pseudo rest, a “nightmare” in the opinion of many employees, hit by physical and mental exhaustion. But the system installed by the authorities in 1999 does not care, what they desire is productivity while pretending to make employees happy. The government has decided to expand the number of public holidays from 7 to 10, it involves this kind of sleight of hand or manipulation if you like, in the name of consumption and tourism.

Except that the Chinese do not want these poisoned gifts, according to an online survey posted on the social network Weibo by the newspaper China Newsweek, only 517 voters – out of 18,000 – were in favour of “a long vacation” during this period. To further dampen the morale of citizens, tourist sites are crammed at this time of year, and means of transport are saturated.

Note that in China the maximum duration of weekly working time is 44 hours, but it is not uncommon for companies to impose the “996 rule” on their employees, i.e. to work from 9 in the morning to 9 p.m., 6 days a week, as did the former boss of the giant Alibaba, Jack Ma. With that, it should not be surprising that the Chinese are disgusted by work, and tired, and the only thing they ask is that we let them decide their days off. It was said that one should not dream about the all-powerful Xi Jinping.