Chinese Leisure

Leisure Day

The average Chinese worker has more than 110 leisure days a year. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security figures, Chinese employees work roughly 20.92 days a month and 2,008.8 hours a year. This is very similar to the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. Since China is such a large country, leisure activities are varied greatly according to region. Common activities in Beijing may be completely different to those common in Hong Kong.

Popular Leisure Activities in China

Leisure days in China often consist of going to large festivals. These include the three “golden weeks” of Spring Festival, the Labor Holiday and the National Holiday. They also include the three-day New Year Holiday and weekends. Having leisure days over one third of the year has drastically transformed Chinese lifestyles. The box office income for movies in China reached over 300 million US dollars in 2005. This was a growth of about 6 million dollars year-over-year. The popularity of gyms and shopping malls in China has also grown significantly. Other leisure activities enjoyed in China include reading books and magazines, watching television, going to dance halls, bars, and listening to music.

Less than a generation ago, leisure activities like this were very uncommon. When a Chinese worker had a day off (which was rare) it was much more common to spend the day doing housework and resting. The two-day weekend emerged in China in 1995. More of the Chinese people have begun participating in sports, travel and many other activities since this occurred.

Games in China

Playing games like bowling, snooker, billiards and video games also comprise much of the Chinese population’s leisure time (especially for those under 30). Bowling, in particular, has become increasingly popular. Beijing and Shanghai have 24-hour bowling alleys like the Golden Altar complex. This bowling alley has 50 lanes, a health club, VIP lanes, a hotel and private rooms.

Snooker is also very popular. Over 60 million Chinese play this game on a regular basis. Additionally, about 66 million watch tournaments of Snooker on TV. There are 5,000 places in China where people can play snooker. This includes 800 snooker clubs in Beijing and 250 super clubs (with over 50 tables at each location).

Why Leisure Has Become More Popular in China

The larger amount of leisure days is mostly because of the rapid economic growth in China. Since this began, the government took on the role of “putting the people first.” This promoted the participation in more leisure activities. It is also typical for a country to have more leisure time when their annual per capita gross domestic product (GDP) goes beyond 1,000 US dollars.  In 2003, China’s per capita GDP exceeded 1,000 US dollars. This was considered a justified reason for more holidays within the country.