BEIJING — Last week, the Sichuan Southwest Vocational College of Civil Aviation in Chengdu, China, informed all students and staff that the one-day National Grave Sweeping Day will be extended to a full week. The official notice, titled “Floating Spring Holiday Notice,” urges people to “get out of the classroom, get off campus, enjoy the great outdoors, and feel the beauty of spring and love.”
The Sichuan College is not the only institution extending its vacation; Xiamen University also gave its students a week off.
The news comes as China faces a long-term demographic crisis. China’s birth rate has declined significantly since 2016. Last year, deaths exceeded births for the first time in more than six decades, leading to negative population growth.
Female students pose for a graduation photo at a university in Xiangyang, China’s Hubei province, 3 June 2015. (Photo by Jie Zhao/Corbis via Getty Images)
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News of the extended holiday drew widespread media attention across China. The college announcement received a wide range of reactions on Chinese social media. Although most people said they envied the students and teachers, they expressed hope that this would become a national standard, or said they wished their university or colleges were as free-spirited, while others felt the school’s motivations questioned.
“I’m sure this is just another attempt to get people to have more babies,” one person wrote on Weibo. Others criticized it as a cheap attempt to attract more students to vocational training.
China’s ruling Communist Party is well aware of the impact its rapidly aging society is having on its economic prospects. She continues to urge local governments to take measures to encourage young people to have more children, resulting in a multitude of benefits for young families.
Many local governments offer extended maternity leave, financial grants, tax cuts, or relaxation of property purchases. Now the focus seems to have shifted to education. Last week, the city of Weifang announced that it would waive school fees for the third child in a family.
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Chinese students joke with each other as they carry a student after graduating from Gaokao School at Beijing Renmin University Affiliated High School in Beijing June 8, 2015. Students spend months preparing for the annual exam and it is also a stressful time for parents as the results determine a student’s educational path and future career prospects. Over the past two days, more than 9 million students across China have taken the test. (Photo by Jie Zhao/Corbis via Getty Images)
Last year, China amended its vocational training law for the first time in more than 25 years. One of the most important legislative changes was the upgrading of VET status in China. The sector and its graduates have traditionally been viewed as inferior to universities – largely due to its poor curriculum. However, as China seeks to transform its manufacturing industries from low-skilled, labor-intensive to self-sufficient, high-tech producers, it needs a more skilled workforce.
In recent months, China has introduced various policies and measures to attract more students to the VET path and more experts and investors to improve the overall quality of the sector.
Additionally, China’s urban unemployment rate of people aged 16-24 in China reached 18.1% in February 2023. With an estimated 12 million new graduates this year, the job market is expected to remain tight.
On July 18, 2007, the students graduated during a ceremony for 3,768 master’s and 898 doctoral degrees awarded at Tsinghua University in Beijing. According to Tian Chengping, Minister of Labor and Social Security, China faces a major challenge in meeting its target of creating 9 million jobs this year. About 5 million college graduates, the largest number in history, will enter the labor market this year, in addition to the surplus farm workers flocking to cities for work. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)
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According to the Sichuan Southwest Vocational College, the spring break will not reduce students’ study time. During the holidays, students also have to do various homework. Liu Ping, deputy dean of the college, said the vacation should be viewed as an opportunity for students to practice combining life and study.
In 2020, the Ministry of Education responded positively to a proposal by the National People’s Congress to extend the spring and fall breaks of elementary and secondary schools and universities as long as the quality of education is not compromised.
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