Two Universities in Jung District Introduce One-Week Spring Break
Measures to Contribute to Solving Low Birthrate Issue
Chinese universities are increasingly adopting a one-week 'spring break,' drawing attention. This is because universities themselves are encouraging young college students' 'dating' to help address low birth rates and aging population issues.
According to local Chinese media such as Sichuan Daily on the 23rd (local time), Southwest Aviation Vocational College, a four-year university in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, will implement spring break from April 1 to 7. They created a total of seven days off by closing for two days before and after the Qingming Festival (April 5), a public holiday in China.
According to the media, this university also announced an unscheduled spring break in 2019. There was no such break from 2020 to last year due to the suspension of classroom lectures amid the spread of COVID-19 infections in China, but it has resumed this year.
The school's spring break catchphrase this year is reportedly "Go out to see the flowers and date." Regarding this, the school explained the purpose of introducing spring break as "to reduce students' academic burdens and allow them to rest intensively."
Southwest Aviation Vocational College is not the only university in China introducing this unique 'spring break.' The Aviation Vocational College located in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, also announced a similar spring break plan.
Chinese universities are implementing spring breaks to contribute to solving the low birth rate and aging population problems. They aim to promote college students' leisure and dating to activate marriage.
The low birth rate issue has already become a hot topic in Chinese society. Last year, China's population recorded 1,411.75 million, down 850,000 from the previous year. This is the first population decline in China in 61 years.
China introduced the 'one-child' policy in 1978, but as the low birth rate problem became prominent, it allowed two children in 2016 and relaxed it further to allow three children in 2021. However, the birth rate, once fallen, shows no signs of recovery.
Ultimately, local authorities, facing urgent issues of labor population decline and rapid aging, are taking various measures such as providing childbirth and childcare subsidies and extending maternity leave.
Meanwhile, news of the introduction of spring breaks at several universities has drawn positive responses from Chinese netizens. On Weibo (China's version of Twitter) and other Chinese social networking services (SNS), posts such as "We should follow the example of Sichuan universities," "Let's expand this nationwide," and "Universities encouraging students to date, the world has completely changed" have appeared.
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