Following the State Council's approval "in principle" of the new
national holidays calendar that cancelled the Golden Week holiday
in May, a steep rise has been seen in prices for overseas tours
during the coming Spring Festival.
This partly proves anticipation of more crowds and higher prices
for tours during the other two Golden Weeks.
Nostalgia might be responsible for the less-than-enthusiastic
public response to the new calendar. Some people may rather brave
the crowds, than have a week-long vacation abolished. But to our
knowledge, much of the discontent with the new arrangement has to
do with the way it was done.
In fairness to the authorities, the very idea of re-scheduling
the national holidays was a result of prevailing public
dissatisfaction with the Golden Weeks. We appreciate their
responsiveness to public concerns. There were efforts to solicit
public opinion. And the ultimate outcome was said to conform with
the majority opinion - more than 80 per cent of the respondents
reportedly supported the cancellation of the May Golden Week. The
entire process appeared to be impeccable.
But it was not. At least two vital flaws have rendered the
process open to question.
Many have pointed out the survey itself was questionable. For
one thing, a poll supposed to reflect the opinion of the national
populace, most of whom are yet to have access to the World Wide
Web, should not have relied so heavily on the Internet. Currently,
Internet users only account for one-tenth of the population. Even
if 80 per cent of all Chinese Internet users endorsed the new
arrangement, they are far from being representative.
Not to mention the fact that the survey's questionnaire did not
allow respondents to say whether or not they agreed with canceling
the May Golden Week. This was ridiculous for a survey with such a
specific purpose. We have no evidence to say it was meant to
mislead, though some think so. But at least it was too
unprofessional to be convincing.
The current holidays calendar is said to be a compromise, which
means further adjustments will be made. Whatever the further
changes will be, we hope they are made in a more sophisticated
manner.
For a country of 1.3 billion people, it is actually quite
impossible to make a policy that satisfies everyone. But at a time
when people are more aware of due process, neglect of technical
details can make otherwise easy decisions difficult.
(China Daily December 10, 2007)