As calls grow from the public to make the Mid-Autumn Festival a national holiday, the municipal government of Weifang City decided to lead the way, albeit tentatively.

It gave government employees, doctors, teachers and other people working in public institutions in the Shandong Province city - famous for its kite-making - the day off to celebrate the festival. However, out of a total population of about eight million, only 190,000 people were fortunate enough to get the day off.

Nor was it an act of generosity - those who were given yesterday off had to work last Saturday.

"By adjusting people's work days, we hope they can celebrate the traditional festival with their family without their work being influenced," said Zhao Chongfa, a government official of Weifang.

A survey on Sina.com showed that more than 97 percent of the 57,239 respondents nationwide supported the festival being made into a public holiday as a way to "promote traditional culture."

Another poll by a news Website based in nearby Qingdao, Shandong Province, showed that 62 percent of the 1,055 people surveyed craved a family reunion on Mid-Autumn Festival.

"Although the holiday is short, I am really glad to celebrate with my family," said Wang Heshan, 38, who works for the Kuiwen District government in Weifang.

Together with his 12-year-old daughter, Wang went back to his hometown in Gaomi City, about 100 kilometers from Weifang, with mooncakes and tea for his parents. "They have phoned several times asking me to come back earlier, " he said. "In the past, although we have to work on the day, many people's minds are elsewhere."

Many people are calling for the festival to be made a one-day holiday for fear that traditional celebrations are dwindling.

Dai Liqin, a 22-year-old college student at Xiamen University in Fujian Province, said when she was young the Mid-Autumn Festival was an important occasion in her hometown of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, when mooncakes and fruits were offered to local temples and elderly women prayed for blessings.

Theatrical troupes were invited to perform in villages and families sat around tables with luxurious dinners. "Now that family members can't gather on the festival, such celebrations have become a memory," she sighed.

Zhao Lihong, writer and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has made four proposals suggesting the Mid-Autumn Festival be made a public holiday.

"Celebrating the festival can remind people of their families and siblings when they are engaged in pursuing their career," he said, adding that as more and more young people choose to work away from their hometowns, many elderly are left at home alone.

Experts attending a forum in Xiamen recently have called for the week-long May Day holiday and the National Day holiday to be shortened to make way for traditional holidays, including the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon-Boat Festival and Double Nine Day.

(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2007)