Key facts
- Chinese workers are using social media to complain about mandatory weekend work before national holidays.
- The topic "voices against holiday compensation work cannot be ignored" has garnered 360 million views on Weibo.
- A Supreme People's Court report shows that in the first nine months of 2025, courts accepted 648,000 labor disputes against employers, a 37.5% rise year-on-year.
- A mobile app called "Weekend Off Shopping" was launched in July to rate businesses on their weekend work policies.
- Authorities suspended the "Weekend Off Shopping" app in September, citing unspecified regulatory violations.
- Some state media outlets expressed sympathy for workers' demands for rest.
With China's national holidays approaching, workers are increasingly taking to social media to protest the common practice of requiring them to work weekends on either side of the break to maintain output. This online outcry is the latest in a series of social media flare-ups over demanding work schedules, low pay, and weak labor protections. A new tactic emerging is the call to punish employers through consumer boycotts or legal action, highlighting deepening strain in the labor market.
On Weibo, the topic "voices against holiday compensation work cannot be ignored" has garnered 360 million views and generated 120,000 discussions. Suzy Li, a 27-year-old worker in tourism, stated her intention to withhold consumer spending during the holidays, calling the practice "inhumane" and attributing its persistence to "economic benefits, productivity gains and development goals."
Analysts suggest this discontent stems from China's export-driven growth model, which fosters intense business competition, cost-cutting, and reliance on overtime. This model limits wage growth and job opportunities, pressuring workers to boost output. The use of consumer buying power to advocate for labor rights presents a challenge to Beijing's efforts to redistribute economic growth to households.
The pressure is also evident offline. In the first nine months of 2025, courts accepted 648,000 labor disputes against employers, a 37.5% year-on-year increase, according to a Supreme People's Court report. Mingwei Liu, director at the Center for Global Work and Employment at Rutgers University, described this as a "highly significant shift" reflecting "deep-seated changes in the Chinese economy," where the traditional effort-reward contract is breaking down.
Earlier in September, outrage over an auto-lighting company firing 107 graduates led to investigations by clients like Volkswagen. In August, Chinese citizens shared advice on filing forced labor complaints to the European Union. In July, a WeChat app called "Weekend Off Shopping" was launched to allow users to rate businesses on their weekend policies, drawing 150,000 contributors before being suspended by authorities in September for unspecified regulatory violations. Searches for the app on Chinese social media platforms now yield no results, with Weibo displaying a notice about policy compliance.
Xiao Qiang, founder of China Digital Times, noted that the "intense censorship" suggests authorities view the app as a new form of "creative resistance" with potential for "social mobilization." However, some state media outlets have shown sympathy for workers. Qilu Evening News commented that "clocking out on time and enjoying a weekend off seem to have become a luxury" and that "fully protecting workers' right to rest is a governance loophole that must be addressed."
Some companies have responded positively, declaring themselves "two-days-off employers" to attract customers. Liu views these reactions as a "positive signal," suggesting that better labor conditions could provide competitive advantages beyond just driving down labor costs. Analysts anticipate continued worker demands for stronger protections amid a weakening economy, with Yaling Jiang of ApertureChina predicting a strengthening conflict between Chinese consumers' and citizens' identities, posing a challenge for the government.