As China’s Golden Week begins, its ‘tiaoxiu’ policy dulls holiday glow for some. Is it time for change?

SINGAPORE: “Primary 1 students feel it the most. After every National Day holiday, you’ll find many kids whining and in tears,” said Chinese teacher Ou Yang Hui Er, who teaches at Liwan Overseas Chinese Elementary School in Guangzhou, China.

While post-holiday blues are not uncommon, it’s often felt more acutely in China under the country’s longstanding practice of “tiaoxiu” or adjusted rest, where work and school days are adjusted to carve out longer uninterrupted blocks of time off.

Under this policy, workers and students face a make-up day of work and school respectively after the week-long “Golden Week” National Day holidays that started on Tuesday (Oct 1). They also had to log such a day the weekend right before the break. 

“It’s not unusual to see many children falling sick after the break,” Ms Ou Yang told CNA. While her 20-plus years of teaching experience means she’s well prepared for the usual uptick, the 47-year-old feels the situation can be improved.

“What we can do is slow down the pace,” she said. “Everyone needs a day or two to recover – not just physically, but to restore our spirits too.”

While criticism over tiaoxiu surfaces from time to time, the practice has come under particular scrutiny this year due to the adjustments for the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays impacting five straight weeks of work schedules.

Some Chinese analysts have even publicly criticised the policy, adding to a chorus of online complaints as people vent their frustrations.

Observers told CNA that China has to weigh how effective tiaoxiu remains in stimulating consumption – a drive that has been picking up pace amid economic woes – versus the blowback, and whether such vocal callouts accurately reflect the sentiments of the general public.

“TOO TIRED TO SPEND”

So what exactly is tiaoxiu? 

Simply put, it is a system used in China to adjust public holidays. When public holidays fall in the middle of the week, working days are shifted to create longer breaks, usually by having employees work on a weekend before or after the holiday period.