A survey conducted by Jia Jianmin, a lecturer from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, showed that people staying put for the Chinese New Year holiday were just as happy as those who returned to their hometowns for the holiday.
The survey collected 3,419 questionnaires from people aged between 20 and 40 from 247 cities in the country between Feb. 20 and 23. Men accounted for 49.28 percent of the respondents.
Survey results showed that around 37.26 percent of respondents chose to stay put for the holiday. The average happiness index (on a scale of 1 to 7, where 7 refers to the most joyful while 1 represents the least happy) of these people was 5.16, slightly lower than the 5.32 index of the ones who holidayed in their hometowns.
Albeit with the small difference, the two groups are both in the range between “pretty happy” and “happy.” Meanwhile, the survey showed that this year’s happiness level was higher than that of last year.
Based on the survey, the proportion of those who chose to stay put to respond to the country’s call and of those who decided to stay due to the COVID-19 pandemic was 77.24 percent and 71.9 percent, respectively.
The pandemic is still the major risk faced by people. Around 74.9 percent of respondents said that they felt the pressure from the pandemic.
The survey also found that people staying put for the holiday do more preventative measures than those who went back to their hometown for the holiday.
Moreover, those who spent the holiday in their hometowns had more gatherings than those staying put.
The top five cities in the country in terms of the residents’ happiness level are Qingdao, Changsha, Hefei, Jinan and Hangzhou, according to the survey.
Given the pandemic, the related central departments issued a circular to encourage and guide migrant employees to stay in the cities where they are working during the Spring Festival holiday to strengthen COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control efforts nationwide.
As a result, staying put for the holiday has become a new trend during this year’s Chinese New Year holiday.