Chinese Colleges are Giving Weeklong 'Love Break' to Students. Here's Why

Amid a looming demographic crisis in China with a falling birth rate, political advisors to the government have come up with many recommendations to address the crisis.

Several colleges have also come up with a unique plan to support the national concern.

Nine vocational colleges in China want their students to go forth and find love during a weeklong holiday in April to reverse China’s declining birth rate.

The schools, run by the Fan Mei Education Group, announced on March 23 that they are going on a break from April 1 to 7 and tasked students with enjoying themselves.

The 7-day holiday encourages students to “learn to love nature, love life, and enjoy love through enjoying the spring break.”

“I hope that students can go to see the green water and green mountains and feel the breath of spring. This will not only broaden students’ horizons and cultivate their sentiments, but also enrich and deepen the teaching content in the classroom,” Liang Guohui, deputy dean of Mianyang Flying Vocational College, said in a statement.

The homework for students includes writing diaries, keeping track of personal development and making travel videos.

“Walk out of campus, get in touch with nature, and with your heart feel the beauty of spring,” the statement added.

The schools have been giving students and teachers a week off in the spring since 2019, but this year’s theme is “enjoy the blossoms, go fall in love,” places a special emphasis on romance.

The announcement comes amid a push in China to bolster rapidly declining birth and marriage rates.

Local companies, provinces, and townships have been experimenting with ways to get people to marry, like offering 30 days of “marriage leave” or launching campaigns asking city women to date rural older bachelors.

South Korea, which is also facing a slowing birth rate, is mulling a proposal to exempt men from mandatory military service for those who have three or more babies before they turn 30. The country hopes that the effort would boost the nation’s ailing birth rate.

China is facing a looming demographic crisis as its workforce ages, which analysts warn could stymie economic growth and pile pressure on strained public coffers.

The country’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time in more than six decades. The Chinese population could decline each year by 1.1 percent on average, according to a study by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, AFP reported.

The mainland Chinese population stood at around 1,411,750,000 at the end of 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics reported, a decrease of 850,000 from the end of the previous year.

(With inputs from AFP)

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