Call for Spring Festival Eve holiday indicates more

Should the eve of the Lunar New Year be declared a public holiday? "Holiday for Spring Festival's Eve" has become a popular call on several forums and social media platforms, with supporters emphasizing the importance of the annual family reunion dinner.

The family reunion dinner on Lunar New Year's Eve has always been important for Chinese people. From 2008 to 2013, the eve of Lunar New Year was part of the Spring Festival public holiday. But a new regulation this year excluded it from the list of public holidays and added the Lunar Jan 3 into the Spring Festival holiday.

An increasing number of people - an estimated 300 million - compelled to work away from their villages and towns owing to the rapid pace of urbanization, need hours or even a couple of days to reach home for the most important Chinese festival.