Blogs
golden week
|
The State Council had to intervene recently to restore order in arrangement for the May 1st international Labor Day holiday.
The trouble started in late March when Guangdong province unveilde plans to're-arrange' the holiday leave to give everyone in the province senven days off in a row.That seemed to defy the central government's decision last year to do away with the 'golden week'Labor Day holiday.
The move by the Guangdong government was interpreted mostly as an effort to encourage consumption and give the local economy a boost by allowing people to travel farther and spend more during the holiday .In a similar move, other places like the city of Chongqing,Hunan province,and the Xin jiang region petitioned the central governmetn to restore the weel-long Labor Day holiday.
Before the central government stepped in to reinstate the policy the move by Guangdong had already given rise to an intense debate nationwide.Many people welcomed it,saying that they preferred a long holiday and that it would serve the economy well,while some economists andscholars firmly opposed it,saying there was no statistical evidence showing that a long holiday helped the local tourism business.In fact,they argued,encouraging people to travelen masse during the same week could have the opposite effect on the economy.
So what do you think?Did the local government have the right to make "golden week"golden week again?
