This is a '2024 Spring Festival Early Holiday Notice' from an enterprise in Guangdong. The company stated that the Spring Festival holiday runs from December 1, 2022 to February 21, 2024, totaling 450 days.

This year, problems such as shrinking demand, overcapacity, and thin profits have become commonplace for enterprises. Now that pandemic controls have been optimized and transportation is unobstructed, yet notices of holidays and production suspensions keep announcing that market conditions remain less than optimistic.

Do you think an enterprise taking 450 days off at year-end is a holiday or a run-away?

Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong and other provinces launch a 'holiday wave'!

As the weather turns cold in the north, most factories have entered shutdown and maintenance mode, while the southern region will also usher in a peak maintenance period starting in December, followed closely by New Year's Day and the Spring Festival. Industry insiders reveal that by the end of December this year, 60% of enterprises in Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Shandong will suspend work for holidays.

▶ Yongkang Delin Meilv Aluminum: The factory is scheduled to officially start the holiday on January 19, 2023; the workshop aims to complete tasks and tidy up the site before January 18. Employees report for work on the eighth day of the first lunar month in 2023.

▶ Shenzhen Yongtaichang Hardware & Plastics: Holiday from January 1 to January 31, 2023, totaling 31 days; official work resumes on February 1. Orders placed before December 25 will be shipped before December 31.

▶ Huayun Factory Department issued a notice stating that the official holiday starts on December 1, and the start date after the Spring Festival is to be determined.

▶ Changshu Sanyang Printing & Dyeing stated that the holiday runs from November 30 to January 28, 2023, with reporting time after the festival from January 29 to February 5.

▶ Hubei Xinhan Guizu Furniture stated that order intake for panel cabinets and doors closes on December 13, order intake for panel flat edge-banded door panels and minimalist glass door panels closes on December 23, the holiday starts on January 6, and work resumes on February 6.

▶ Hengmao Bamboo Products Factory stated that production stops on January 1, shipping stops on January 10, and the resumption time will be notified separately.‍

Qianyi Packaging Products stated that all employees will be on holiday from December 1 until February 1, 2023.

Over 60% of enterprises take year-end holidays; losing money on every order is worse than 'lying flat'

The editor notes that the enterprises mentioned above span multiple industries including coatings, chemicals, textiles, printing and dyeing, clothing, and electronics. Holiday durations range from over 20 days to more than 3 months, and one enterprise even announced 450 days off—no one can tell whether it was a real typo or a comical way of driving employees away.

Industry insiders say that as the weather turns cold in the north, most factories have entered shutdown and maintenance mode, while the southern region will also see a peak maintenance period starting in December, followed by the 'two festivals' (New Year's Day and Spring Festival). Therefore, many enterprises simply take a holiday spanning both festivals.

The reasons: first, orders are truly poor—holidays began gradually from November, and year-round overtime has turned into mandatory two-day weekends; second, prices are low and profits thin—taking orders and starting production only barely supports workers, and some even lose money on every order; most importantly, uncertainty over order payments has increased, creating greater capital risk, which is especially severe for traditional industries such as clothing, textiles, coatings, and chemicals. Many factories are arranging early holidays or selling off inventory at year-end to protect their cash flow.

With domestic and foreign demand declining, suspending work has shifted from 'lying flat' to a form of 'self-rescue.' After all, poor business is not a problem for any single enterprise but a situation across the entire industrial chain. Enterprises take early holidays, employees plan to go home, and earning money by working has become secondary—rich or poor, going home for the Spring Festival has become what everyone longs for.