年中國法定節假日不再有“年三十”

Imagine finalising plans for a long-awaited new year family reunion – calling the parents, booking flights – when suddenly, the government posts a simple document online that renders it all in vain.

That's what has happened to many Chinese people, after the general office of the state council released its 2014 official holiday schedule. Many were shocked that it did not grant vacation time on Lunar New Year's Eve – an evening of ancestor worship and family reunion dinners, one of the most important nights of the traditional Chinese calendar. It has been an official holiday since 2007.

"It's like a Thanksgiving dinner," said Apple Dai, a 29-year-old employee at the Beijing office of a European conglomerate. "You're supposed to spend the day with your family – it's a cultural thing. And now because ofChina's development, it feels like we're losing our culture."

Next year's calendar will give workers 11 days off, including week-long vacations during the lunar new year – also known as the spring festival – and the anniversary of the October 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China. The official spring festival holiday will run from Friday 31 January until Thursday 6 February. Employees will be required to work on the weekends before and after to make up for lost time.

State media outlets said the new schedule "reflects public opinion". Shi Peihua, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, told the state news agency Xinhua that the arrangement eliminates "very long consecutive work days in weeks before or after holidays". Dong Keyong, a professor at Beijing's Renmin University, said it avoids "the interruption of people's regular work and life".

Yet more than 80% of nearly 180,000 respondents to a poll on Sina Weibo, the country's most popular microblog, said they were unsatisfied with the new arrangement. Many users proposed visiting government offices on Lunar New Year's Eve, to ascertain whether officials are working as hard as everyone else.

"The spring festival holiday without Lunar New Year's Eve is like making love without foreplay," said one well-forwarded post. "Mum, if I can't make it home on time for new year's eve, please don't take me to court," said another user, referring to legislation passed this year that allows parents to sue their children for lack of filial piety.

"I'm really worried about the migrant workers who live far away from home," wrote a third user. "For some, the vacation period will end while they're only halfway there."

Dai said she plans to take leave on Lunar New Year's Eve anyway – she wants to get back to her home province, Anhui, in time for dinner. She doubts her company will be inhumane enough to keep her working. "You just tell your boss you want to go home early or something like that," she said. "And sometimes they'll just let you go."

Because China's 1.3 billion people must abide by the same holiday schedule, the crush of hundreds of millions of travellers returning home to their families sends the country into overdrive. Flight costs rise; lines at train ticket offices take up entire city blocks. During the 2013 spring festival, Chinese people logged 3.42bn trips on public transport, according to Xinhua.請想象你已經最後敲定了期待已久的新年闔家團聚的計劃，你已經打電話給父母並訂好航班了，但是突然間，政府在網站上公佈的一紙通知將這一切化爲泡影。

在國務院下發了2014年的放假安排後，上述情況就發生在很多中國人身上。許多人訝異於除夕並未在節日行列。大年三十晚上是用來祭拜祖先，全家人共享年夜飯的，是中國農曆中最重要的日子之一。從2007年開始就是法定節假日。

一名在北京工作的歐洲聯合企業的戴姓員工表示，年夜飯就像是一頓感恩節晚餐，是一件具有文化意義的事情，所有人都應該和家人度過那一天；自從中國發展起來，我們的年味感覺少了許多。

明年的節假日將有11天，其中包括一週的春節假期和國慶節假期。法定的春節假期從1月31日（週五）至2月6日（週四）。調休的緣故，週末要正常上班。

官方媒體發佈稱，節日安排“體現了民意”。北京交通大學的施佩華教授告訴新華社說，安排取消了放假前後連續工作多天的情況。中國人民大學的董科勇教授說這個安排避免擾亂人們的工作和生活。

但在新浪微博上進行的一項調查顯示，在將近18萬參與投票的網民中，超過八成的人不滿意這次的安排。很多用戶表示要在除夕當天去拜訪政府工作人員，看看他們是不是和其他人一樣努力工作。

一條許多人轉發的回覆說道：“春節長假沒有了除夕，就像性生活沒有了前戲一樣。”另一位用戶說：“母親，如果我在除夕當晚不能準時回家，請不要起訴我。”暗指今年通過的一項立法：父母可因孩子沒有孝心而起訴他們。

還有一位用戶說，非常替那些離家很遠的農民工擔心，因爲他們之中有一些人在假期結束後可能還沒回到家。

一位戴姓員工表示，她準備在大年三十回安徽，爲了趕上年夜飯。她認爲他的公司不會那麼不近人情。她說，只要告訴上司你想早點回家，有時候他們就會讓你走。

因爲全中國13億人都要遵守放假規定，返鄉的巨大人潮使整個國家的運輸系統過載。航班價格上升，購買火車票的隊伍很長。根據新華社公佈的數據，2013年春節，共有34.2億人次使用公共交通出行。