Beijing residents work 53 minutes overtime per day
(chinaview.cn)
Updated: 2005-11-16 14:11

Beijing has seen each of its resident's extra working time stretched 39 minutes longer each day than it was two decades ago, a local newspaper reported.

"Beijing residents now work nine hours and 50 minutes on an average working day, including one hour and five minutes commuting, seven hours and 52 minutes at work and 53 minutes' overtime," a survey conducted by the Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau was quoted by Tuesday's Beijing Youth Daily as saying.

People aged from 31 to 35 have the longest working hours, including 67.4 minutes' overtime on average, the survey said.

Categorized by professions, the survey said self-employed people work most, with one hour and 58 minutes overtime per day. The second busiest job is scientific research, with about one hour and 31 minutes extra working time per day.

"Compared with 20 years ago, Beijing residents are now spending less time on cooking, laundering and shopping," the survey was cited, the higher the salary, the shorter time the people spend on housework.

The residents, however, are investing more time on leisure activities, such as watching TV, exercising and surfing the Internet in spare time compared with two decades ago, according to the survey.

On the other hand, though many people acknowledge that overworking compromises one's health and life, they voluntarily act like workaholics.

Li Guiming, who is now working for a Beijing-based newspaper and whose daily work time exceeds ten hours, said "if my wage were lower than my wife's, I would feel ashamed. Moreover, I have to save money for my child's education and for my life in old age."

"Workaholics are usually respected and supported by society," Li said, "A busy schedule suggests a key position in one's company and a good salary."

But Du Wendong, a psychology professor at elite Nanjing University in east China's Jiangsu Province, said "In fact, this is mistaken."

Recently, many Chinese celebrities have died from overwork, sounding alarms for ordinary Chinese. Chen Yifei, 59, an eminent Chinese artist, died of gastrorrhagia on April 10, when he was directing the movie "The Barber" in Shanghai.

Wang Junyao, chairman of the Shanghai-based Junyao Group, who ran China's first private charter airline and built a business empire valued at 300 million US dollars, died of intestinal cancer at the age of 38 on Nov. 7, 2004.

"The eight working hours system is a social and scientific achievement in the industrial era, and people must consciously prevent it from fading out of daily work," Du said.