Do Chinese people really enjoy 115 days off each year?

The Chinese people are entitled to 115 days off work a year, about the same level of moderately developed countries, according to a recent report. This has aroused heated discussion in China.

Can people take all of the 115 days off every year? With this question in mind, the reporter interviewed many people from all walks of life.

County Party chief Leaders should set example in taking paid leave

"We legally enjoy 115 days off a year, but have never taken all these days off," said Huang Shaoming, Party chief of Luchuan county in Yulin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, when asked about officials' time off work.

Huang attributed officials' difficulties in taking time off to busy work and heavy responsibilities.

Huang expressed strong support for the paid leave system, but stressed that leading cadres should set an example. "We do not dare to take paid leave unless our leaders do it first," he said.

Employees of state-owned enterprises Managers take fewer days off than grass-roots workers

"I take five days of paid leave every year, and seldom need to work at weekends or on official holidays," said a grass-roots worker surnamed Dong at Anhui Expressway Holding Group.

Compared with grass-roots workers who can fully enjoy paid annual leave, the management teams of state-owned enterprises find it hard to take paid leave.

"We seldom need to work at weekends or on official holidays, but sometimes have to work overtime. As the company hires fewer workers every year, we are kind of short-handed in many aspects, and have to shoulder heavier workload. The company gives us more than 20 days of paid leave every year, but we can just take a few days off," said a manager who has worked at a state-owned power company in Anhui province for nearly 20 years.

White-collar workers at foreign companies Encouraged to take paid leave

"In addition to weekends and official holidays, we enjoy 12 days of paid leave and 15 days of sick leave every year," said Li Wen, 27, who has worked at the Shanghai branch of a U.S. semiconductor company for more than a year.

Li said that foreign companies often offer good holiday entitlements. Proper rest can make people energetic and better prepared for work, so their superiors encourage them to take annual leave.

Frontline workers Working for money, not caring about holidays

Lei Yangwei, 41, is a frontline worker at a steel plant of Panzhihua New Steel and Vanadium Company, a subsidiary of Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group. He took 95 days off last year, fewer than the 115 days allowed.

By contrast, construction worker Liu Jun seldom takes time off work.

The 27-year-old worker from Dingping town, Linshui county of Sichuan province has settled down in Wenjiang district, Chengdu.

"I have taken no more than six days off since I started working at this construction site last May," he said, satisfied with just six hours of rest a day.

Liu said that he works for money, and does not care about holidays.

An online survey shows that more than 60 percent of respondents do not have to work at more than half of all weekends a year.

Only nearly 23 percent of respondents can take 52 weekends totaling 104 days off a year, and nearly 40 percent can take 52 to 104 days off. Over 21 percent can take days off fewer than 52 days, and nearly 17 percent have to work at almost all weekends.

Chinese citizens enjoy 11 days of official holidays each year, including the Spring Festival and National Day. According to the survey, nearly 43 percent of respondents can take all of the 11 days off, and over 35 percent can take five to 10 days off. Over 15 percent can take days off fewer than five days, and nearly 7 percent have to work on all of the 11 days.