https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/the-economic-miracle-of-chinas-midday-naps
2025-12-04
William Langley
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Walking out of the noon heat into one of southern China’s many industrial parks this summer, I thought I’d discovered a factory shutdown.
Just weeks after US President Donald Trump had announced measures to close the tax loopholes that fuelled the rapid growth of fast fashion brands Temu and Shein, a factory in Panyu, where many suppliers are based, seemed empty: lights off, nobody working.
But then: A rustle, a sigh, maybe even a snore? I glanced at my watch: It was just after 1 o’clock in the afternoon. The factory hadn’t closed, it was asleep. Looking down at ground level, I saw row upon row of workers, happily snoozing through the worst of the midday blaze.
In one of the world’s most industrious and dynamic regions, the midday nap, or wuxiu, may seem a curious anomaly. Like Spain’s siestas, it has its roots in the not-too-distant, pre-air-conditioning past. Summer days in southern China can reach well over 35 deg C, with humidity of more than 70 per cent.
For visitors, the quiet can be eerie. But the naps illustrate the intense work ethic that China’s economic miracle has demanded. Workers need at least an hour’s snooze at midday because, very likely, they will work three shifts: one in the morning, another in the afternoon and a third “overtime” shift that starts at 6pm and ends at 9pm.
Although labour laws now ban the practice, some workers will press on to the night shift to earn extra cash. And where factory workers have night shifts, tech workers have 996 – a working culture that demands they stay at their desk from 9am until 9pm, six days a week.
Social media posts show that companies as diverse as internet giant Tencent and drone maker DJI have dedicated hours during which the office lights are dimmed, fold-out beds are rolled out and lunches are slept off.
I have been shown camp beds and desk pillows at the Shenzhen campus of Huawei, the infamously industrious tech conglomerate that is leading China’s charge into everything from high-end chips to self-driving cars.
Heat still plays a role. Factories in China now advertise whether they have air-conditioning when recruiting workers. But in many public buildings and offices, regulations ban thermostats from being set below 26 deg C – easily hot enough to induce midday somnolence.
Mr Zhang Yi, chief executive of Guangzhou-based consultancy iiMedia Research, says that although wuxiu are regarded as traditional, their popularity has grown in tandem with rising incomes and long working hours.
iiMedia estimates that about 70 per cent of Chinese adults take a midday nap, up from 60 per cent in 2019.
“The wuxiu habit is extremely popular,” he says, noting that it was most favoured in China’s smaller cities but that rising health consciousness has assured its survival in the major metropolises too. “It’s still quite universal.”
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These days, however, amid trade wars and a domestic slowdown, the relentless pace of work is changing – which could spell the end of naps.
The investment spree that transformed Guangdong’s Pearl River Delta from what was essentially a swamp into one of the world’s most productive urban conglomerations is decelerating. Huge unfinished residential complexes illustrate the property sector collapse. Guangdong – China’s largest provincial economy – has in recent years become one of its slowest growing.
Nonetheless, Ms Zhao Fen, a toy factory owner in Dongguan, told me the 1½-hour lunch breaks at her company (30 minutes to eat plus a nap) were still essential for maintaining the multi-shift work patterns that have made China the factory of the world. But there can be too much of a good thing.
In her native Sichuan – a south-western province known in China for tea houses and pandas – you can’t get any official work done at all between 11.30am and 3pm.
“Sichuan is even more comfortable,” she laughs, as I sit on the flat leather sofa she uses for her own naps. “They really are having a great time.” FINANCIAL TIMES
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