Pre-National Holiday Logistics

I will define “weekend” as consisting of the traditional non-work days of Saturday and Sunday.

Most weeks, if not EVERY SINGLE WEEK, has a weekend. [see above]

That means that most weeks, if not EVERY SINGLE WEEK, gives us two non-work days (Saturday and Sunday). [see above + above]

That also means that most weeks, if not EVERY SINGLE WEEK, I get two non-work days (Saturday and Sunday) to ... well ... not work.

Now ... China will on occasion, when it feels like its citizens have been good and obedient and productive workers, give long national holidays that last a week long. Golden Weeks. Yes, a whole week off from work. Mandated by the government (unless you are one of the unfortunate few who run a mom and pop shop or some other privately run business), schools, and state enterprises, most foreigners, most companies will take a week off. The theory behind this is that when allowed such a long break from work, people will want to open up their wallets and spend, spend, spend those RMBs on shopping or trips and by extension boost the economy. Imagine if it was required by law for all Americans to take a week off from work during Christmas or Thanksgiving. Culture-wise Americans spend those holidays with family, but no doubt it would also encourage some tourism and shopping when given all that free time.

Here’s the kicker. The weeklong holiday does not come without its own terms and conditions. Because by law, the government is giving us these holidays, by law most schools, state enterprises, companies will have its workers work on the weekend to “make up” for the future days off. Yes, you read that correctly. The general idea is we shift our “work days” around so that we are not taking -too- many days off. Because -too- many days off would actually be “bad” for the economy when factories aren’t running and making “Made in China”s and little Maos aren’t learning in schools. These “make up” work days typically come right before or right after the Golden Weeks so that the “weekend” days will be tacked onto the “holiday” days to make the holiday “longer”. Following? You can’t have cake and eat it too. In this case, we have to bake our own cake before we can have and eat it.

National Holiday/October Holiday (Fall Golden Week) celebrates the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The PRC’s 4th of July. This year, it will last from October 1-8 (extra day for Autumn Festival, joy). What does this mean? It means that this weekend has been made into a one day weekend. I get Saturday off, but I will be working from Sunday - Wednesday. Thursday is the first day of the Golden Week. China has the power to not only declare one official time zone across a landmass that requires closer to three separate time zones (Beijing Time = China Standard Time), but it can also declare one day or no-day weekends. Yes, I’ve once worked 7 days straights when China shifted the “weekend” to the following week.

Hooray for Communism!