A recent study show a common Chinese works about three months more than a common European and American every year, and time spent on children by a Chinese adult has also doubled or tripled that of Europeans and Americans.
The study, developed by Wang Yanqi, PhD of the Renmin University of China, schemed the topic “how people allocate their daily time to different tasks” and made comparison between Chinese and Westerners including Europeans and Americans.
The study shows a Chinese works five hours and 37 minutes everyday, while Europeans and Americans, or the Westerners, work four hours. The one hour and 37 minutes' surplus every day cumulates to three months more in working time of a Chinese than a Westerner on a 40-working-hour-per-week base.
Wang anlaysed that the phenomenom can be explained by the different working conventions in different countries. In the past, the Westerners had a syllabus of working only five days a week, and we Chinese six days. Now, they can have elastic working syllabus or three working-day-per-week system, and we are just starting to use the Westerner’s discarded method of five working days per week.
The study also indicated that the Chinese are more devoted to their families and the relationship of relatives is more intimate in China than in the Western countries.
Wang testified to his conclusion drawn from the study by showing the result that every Chinese adult spends 42 minutes caring about his or her child. The figure nearly triples the Japanese parents’19 minutes and doubles the Westerners'27 minutes.
The sleeping time per day, an indicator of working load and pressure, is also studied by Wang. He found Chinese sleeps 40 minutes fewer than Westerners per day on average.
(eastday.com 02/27/2001)
