State Council announces two 7-day national holidays

Chinese people will have a seven-day break for both National Day holidays and Spring Festival, according to the public holiday arrangements released by the State Council on Wednesday.

There will be 11 days off during the year for major holidays, such as New Year's Day, Tomb-sweeping Day, International Labor Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.

People will have one day's break for New Year's Day and by adjusting the weekend will have seven days of holiday for both the Spring Festival holiday and the National Day holidays.

Over 84 percent of Net users said they were not satisfied with the arrangement, according to a Sina online poll, which over 39,000 people had participated as of press time.

Meanwhile, 88 percent said they don't like the fact that the last day of the lunar calendar is not being counted as public holiday.

Liu Simin, a research fellow with the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the announced arrangement was reasonable.

"In fact, many companies and organizations allow their staff to leave work around noon of the last day in the lunar calendar, which means people can have an extra half-day holiday," Liu said.

Adding to weekends, Tomb-sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-autumn Festival will each have a three-day holiday.

The Labor Day holiday will have a three-day break by adjusting weekends, which is the same as the 2013 schedule.

The arrangement is in accordance with an earlier online poll in late November, where most people preferred a week-long holiday for the National Day break.

Tourist experts told the Global Times previously that the poll clearly showed the Chinese general public's desire to enjoy longer national holidays.