As with last year, there are seven (in our opinion, ridiculous) weekend makeup days bracketing the major holidays this year.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: these makeup working days need to go. A holiday ain't a holiday if you have to "earn" it by working seven-day weeks before or after each one.

Another odd feature we're always a bit miffed about is marking the Saturday and Sunday of a three-day weekend as a “holiday”. That's not a three-day holiday: that's one day off plus a normal weekend that you're already entitled to.

So without further ado here’s the full rundown for 2022, so you can (a) beat your coworker in the cubicle next to you in filing for those weekend days off in advance; (b) start forging a variety of sick leave requests to file away for use at appropriate times; and (c) check with your HR to find out which of your distant relatives the death of whom you have not yet used to gain extra days off.

New Year
Saturday, Jan 1 to Monday Jan 3
Herein lies the first of the “three-day weekend” holidays.

Chinese New Year
Monday Jan 31 to Sunday Feb 6
Makeup Work Days: Saturday Jan 29 and Sunday Jan 30
Ah yes, the makeup days once again rear their ugly heads. Weclome to the Least Productive Days on the annual work calendar: Two working weekend days following a normal 5-day work week. Expect 1/3 of the staff to have already filed for early leave; 1/3 to call in sick, and the remaining 1/3 to sit, moribund, in the office doing a whole lot of nothing except maybe finally clearing their desktops of a year of collective debris.

Tomb-Sweeping Festival
Sunday Apr 3 to Tuesday Apr 5
Makeup Work Days: Saturday Apr 2
The Tomb-Sweeping Festival happens on a Tuesday this year, so planners tossed in the Monday off as well. But wait -- four days off? The economy will grind to a halt! Stay and work Saturday and you can earn that Monday.

May Day
Saturday Apr 30 to Wednesday May 4
Makeup Work Days: Sunday Apr 24 and Saturday May 7
The Labor Day holiday is one of the longer breaks of the year, but you still gotta earn it, with makeup days before and after the holiday. It's called Labor Day, not Slacker Day for a reason.

Dragon Boat Festival
Friday Jun 3 to Sunday Jun 5
Huzzah! One of two three-day weekends for 2022 that doesn’t come with any makeup days! But honestly, can a Friday to Sunday holiday even be considered as such?

Mid-Autumn Festival
Saturday Sep 10 to Monday Sep 12
The second of the three-day weekends without any makeup work days preceding or following. Good deal, even though it's simply a day off.

National Day
Saturday Oct 1 to Friday Oct 7
Makeup Work Days: Saturday Oct 8 and Sunday, Oct 9
This one starts on a weekend and stretches for seven glorious days. But try not to think that your boss has your ass for seven consecutive days the week after.

Here at True Run Media (The Beijinger’s parent company) we stopped making staff do weekend makeup days a few years back because (a) we work hard all year round; (b) these weekends are always unproductive and eat away at morale; (c) many of our staff have kids or other weekend obligations to attend to; and (d) so we have extra time to blow any savings we have accumulated, thus stimulating the economy as any good citizen should.

We’re happier and more productive as a result, so why not bring this up to your boss or management?