Several Chinese universities have offered their students a longer spring break to encourage them to enjoy nature and find love, a move that could be the country’s strategy to revive the falling birth rate, according to some Chinese.
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The week-long holiday is an extension of China’s one-day Qingming Festival National Day, when families clean the tombstones of deceased loved ones and make offerings, according to ‘Global News’. .
Nine universities have announced that they will extend the holiday from April 1 to April 7 this year.
Students will be instructed to keep track of the activities they have done while on leave with travel journals, daily vlogs and photos, all of which will then be displayed in class.
A note about this should be distributed with the instruction to “enjoy the flowers and fall in love”, to lead teachers, students and employees to enjoy a meaningful vacation.
This initiative has reacted to the population on social networks, who see it as a government strategy as part of its recent efforts to revive the birth rate in the country.
China’s birth rate has been declining for several years, with the previous year marking the first in decades that the death rate exceeded the number of births.
China dragged itself into a demographic hole with its one-child policy imposed between 1980 and 2015, despite the limit being raised in 2021, allowing families to have up to three children.