Chinese colleges on love-themed spring break as nation scurries to arrest population decline

They say desperate times call for desperate measures. At least that is what one is reminded of by Chinese social media users who see Chinese colleges giving a week-long holiday to find love as a measure aimed to tackle the country's dwindling population.

A few Chinese vocational colleges reportedly gave their students a full week's holiday in the month of April. Why? Just so they could find love. But the announcement by these colleges does not explicitly talk about finding a romantic partner but instead says the holiday is for appreciating nature and "to find love."

Nature love. Imagine your college gives you a holiday to let you be surrounded by nature. To let you absorb its sights and sounds bringing its love to you. To feel the wind through the trees and listen to the songs of birds. And to simply reconnect with nature. Weird?

But the hidden meaning of it seems to be pretty clear to Chinese netizens that the college announcement is just an extension of the government's policies to accelerate the birth rate in a country whose population has seen a historic decline.

The decision to give a holiday week to find love was taken by colleges of the Fan Mei Education Group. All of the group's vocational schools train students for employment in the aviation sector. The training is given to prepare students to become future pilots, air traffic controllers or flight attendants.

The Mianyang Aviation Vocational College in a statement on 23 March said, “The school implements the spring break system in the hope that students can learn to love nature, love life, and enjoy love." It urged the college students to “walk out of campus, get in touch with nature, and with your heart feel the beauty of spring.”

Meanwhile, the Qingdao Aviation Technology Vocational College said the students ought to enjoy the flowers. The spring break from April 1 to 7 was to “enjoy the flowers and to fall in love,” it said.

A person on the Chinese social media site Weibo, reacting to this unique holiday, said,“I’m sure this is just another attempt to push people into having more babies.”

Every year, the holiday used to be just for one day, to mark the national tomb-sweeping festival known as the Qingming Festival, which falls on April 5 this year. But the festival is now extended to a full love-blown spring week.

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Nevertheless, the students seem to be cherishing this holiday. “I was thrilled when I found out about spring break. My roommates and I immediately booked a flight to Lijiang of Yunnan province and plan to have some fun there for a few days,” a freshman at Sichuan Southwest told Beijing Youth Daily, per China Daily.

Not just the holiday, the assignments are also hinged on a light-mood love-theme. The assignments include everything from writing travel diaries to shooting videos.

This all is reportedly done in the quest of boosting the declining population. For the first time since 1962, China's National Bureau of Statistics recorded a population decline of 850,000 in 2022. The statistics revealed the lowest birth rate in history and the greatest mortality rate since 1976.

(With inputs from agencies)

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