A large majority of Chinese surveyed by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) want to change the country's statutory holiday system and have 11 days of holiday a year.

But fewer people support a plan to drop the May Day "Golden Week" holiday in return.

About 80 percent of the 1.55 million Internet users who responded to a questionnaire designed by the NDRC voted yes to the idea of having 11 holiday days every year.

But support dropped when it came to changes that could see the May Day Golden Week disappear -- only getting 68 percent backing.

The proposal, drawn up by a special panel after more than a year's research, calls for the scrapping of the May Day golden week while adding three traditional festivals as national holidays, which means workers will receive one more paid day off each year.

The three-day May Day holiday will be cut to one day, while the Tomb-sweeping Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-autumn Festival will become national vacations, according to the draft released Nov. 9.

This will raise the number of paid holiday days to 11 from 10.

The proposal also calls for the Spring Festival break to start on lunar New Year's Eve instead of the first day of the Chinese New Year and for the holiday to end a day earlier. This won support from almost 81 percent of those in the survey.

Ninety percent hope China can introduce a paid vacation system which might help ease traffic congestion caused by the current "Golden Week" holidays.

The government has promised to consider all comments and suggestions from the public. The final holiday plan is expected to be released at the end of this year and will be implemented in time for the 2008 Spring Festival which falls Feb. 7.

China introduced the "Golden Week" holidays in 1999 to boost domestic consumption.

Tourism revenue soared from 14.1 billion yuan (US$1.90 billion) during the 1999 National Day holiday to 64.2 billion yuan during the recent "Golden Week" in October.

However, complaints about overcrowding and damage to historical sites during the "Golden Week" breaks have prompted debate about the holidays.

(Agencies via Shenzhen Daily November 19, 2007)