China is well into her 70th year now. What was celebrated on October 1 with a military parade and much fanfare is now firmly in the past. Those who work in China then got to enjoy 7 glorious continuous days off from work. I don't care what your politics is, you have to agree that any kind of extended vacation is fantastic, no matter what the reason.
Time with family.
Time to sleep in.
Time to catch up on all that TV you've been meaning to watch.
###### Time
#### to do
### Nothing.
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If you haven't had a week off in a while, I highly recommend it.
I still had to get in *some* work, of course. A couple of days I did spend in Korea going to a work conference, but I at least got to enjoy a couple full days with the kid just wandering around the neighborhood with her [trying to keep her entertained](https://www.one-life.io/lifestyle/@shanghaipreneur/that-old-china-expat-life-supermarket-edition).
One full week off is really an amazing thing. China has certainly gotten this part right. Right after the long hot summer, all of us truly need a full week to recharge our batteries and get ready for the holiday stretch run, which some people might call The Q4 Hustle.
Growing up in the United States I used to think that the country I lived in was the most patriotic in the world. “Home of the Free, Land of the Brave.” Hot dogs, hamburgers, fireworks, and four days off every year to celebrate the glory and the success of it all in a celebration of excess at the height of summer.
Now I know better.
Yeah, We The People 🇺🇸are pretty into our baseball and apple pie. But we got nothin’ on China.
The Renmin 🇨🇳get 7 full days off in a row to wave their flags, thank Mao, and watch that military parade.
The school kids sing patriotic songs for weeks. Lights all over the city are red in honor of the occasion. Some buildings even have full-fledged patriotic animated gifs playing on two sides. Oh yeah, and there's a nearly 3-hour long military parade on China's birthday morning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnoaWO3KDIA
The Soviet Union collapsed a few days short of its 69th birthday. So that makes China the first Communist country ever to reach septugenarian status.
### Against all odds
##### (neoliberal capitalism
###### is a pretty powerful force, ya know)
#
and from a most rudimentary base just 2 generations ago, China has become the world’s clear #2 country in the world.
It may just have something to do with these "golden weeks." Yeah, that's what they are actually called. There used to be 3 every year, but now there's only two. One centered around the Lunar New Year, which is pretty much like Christmas in China and falls somewhere in mid-January to mid-February. And one that is steady eddie on the Western calendar from October 1st through the 7th. Every year.
It's wonderful. If you avoid the tourist spots, the city is quiet and delightful too. The weather usually almost perfect.
But now it is time to go back to the grind. The TPS reports. Asana tasks. E-mail to catch up from the people in your multinational small business that didn't just have a weeklong holiday. Rent. Work. Side work. Social obligations related to work. Bills. Taxes. Projects half-finished. Projects not yet started but already overdue. Projects that are almost finished but you think "Oh, what's the point now, anyway?" More e-mail. More Asana tasks. Phone calls. Coffee meetings to arrange. Speeches to attend. Speeches to plan. More bills. Cleaning. Moving. Trying to get enough exercise. Trying to get enough sleep. Trying to get enough coffee. Trying not to drink *too much* coffee. Trying to care. Trying *not* to care. Smalltalk. Important talks. Pillow talk if you can even manage it once you finally get home at night.
## All that.
#
###### Only 78 days to go till Christmas, when my family will get to make its own little Golden Week trimmed with turkey, cranberry dressing and all the Netflix you can stand at Grandma's house.
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Let's get busy, y'all! Here's to a productive Q4!