Ten years ago today, a seemingly simple decision changed life for millions in China.

A move to a five-day workweek changed TV program scheduling, made short-distance travel popular and brought a sharp rise in training course enrollments.

But a decade later, the issue is still controversial.

"Five working days? No kidding. We taxi drivers are excluded from that benefit," said Wang Jinquan, a Beijing cab driver.

Wang got his first job in 1980, when the country operated on a six-day workweek. He was ecstatic when the number of working days was shorted -- and then he became a cab driver.

Shop clerks, journalists, senior officials and even primary school students are right there with the drivers when it comes to working extra days. In fact, some people say the weekends can be far more tiring than the weekdays.

Cai Qizhen, a teenager in Guangdong Province, said his busy weekend schedule is full of extra studies required by his parents.

Xie Jiajing, a bank employee in East China's Zhejiang Province, said she spent most of her weekends last year on courses.

Xie said she would like to have three days off a week, because "working for five days is still tiring, while Friday is always a low efficiency day."

But the debate does not end there.

Several months ago, a suggestion was made to reinstate the six-day week but allow four days off at the end of the month.

Wang Xiaoguang, a senior official from the National Development and Reform Commission, supported the idea in a recent economic report.

"It can give the public more choices for traveling around," he said.

Public sentiment, however, seems largely against it.

"People need a regular rest after working some time. The four days off in a month can hardly make up for the two-day rest each week," said Wu Sulian, an editor at Beijing's Huawen Publishing House.

(China Daily March 25, 2005)