Authorities consider holidays to spend time with parents
Print Edition
AUTHORITIES in some parts of China are considering a holiday to allow busy people to spend more time with their parents.
In its 2016-2020 development plan, Beijing has proposed encouraging employers to grant days off to employees when their parents celebrate a birthday, need medical help, are seriously ill, or are dying.
A similar document released by east China’s Anhui Province encourages grown-up children to live near or with their parents, and asks employers to grant paid leave to those who take care of disabled parents.
Some other provinces already allow an only child to take up to 20 days off each year to care for parents over 60 years old or who are in hospital.
“Such time off is very precious to me,” said Li Tingfei, an only child who works in Anhui but whose parents live in the southwest city of Chongqing.
“Calls and video chats, no matter how frequent, are no match for having a meal at the same table with them, or looking after them when they are ill in bed,” Li said.
You Xiaoxu, a hospital intern, is concerned about whether the holiday will ever materialize. She works in a city two hours from her hometown, but tight scheduling and a heavy workload make it impossible for her to go home much.
“Doctors are so overwhelmed by work that they cannot even enjoy normal weekends or statutory holidays,” You said.
Chen Kaizi, a Shanghai journalist, said: “Those who love their parents will always find time to go home and fulfil their filial duties, with or without holidays. But can you make sure that everyone will spend the new time off with their parents, rather than traveling or doing something else?”
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are more than 220 million people over the age of 60 in China, or more than 16 percent of the population.
Fan Hesheng, a sociologist at Anhui University, said: “It is necessary for an aging China with a considerable number of one-child families to add a ‘filial holiday,’ but effective execution will need the joint efforts on various parties.”
He said both employees and employers should already know that taking care of the elderly is both a legal responsibility and a moral obligation.
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