Long holidays preferred to paid leave

Nearly half of the people who participated in an online survey opposed a proposal to replace China's long holidays with annual paid leave.

The survey by the China Youth Daily, which polled some 3,900 Internet users, showed that 46 percent of the respondents believe that it's "not practical" to cancel long holidays and replace them with paid leave.

In China, there are two long holidays - the Spring Festival and National Day holidays, with three days each. The length of the two holidays can be extended to seven days including the weekend.

Half of the people polled said that they do not enjoy paid leave from their workplaces at the moment.

The State Council passed a regulation in 2008 that allows workers to enjoy five days of paid leave a year after working for 12 months. People who have worked for 10 years can enjoy 10 days of paid leave, while workers who have worked for 20 years and longer get 15 days.

Due to the inefficient implementation of the paid-leave policy and the congestion of traffic networks during long holidays, some experts have suggested the replacement of the State-mandated long holidays with paid leave.