A nurse prepares to collect blood from a donor in Chengdu of Sichuan Province in southwest China on Dec. 1, 2005. China Photos/Getty Images
An online notice circulating among students at China’s Liaoning Normal University appears to offer those who donate blood an opportunity to take up to 13 consecutive days off around China’s Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, while students who do not donate are required to attend classes as scheduled.
The notice, shared in a class WeChat group at the university’s School of Fine Arts, has drawn backlash online, with netizens questioning whether the school is effectively offering additional vacation time in exchange for blood donations. The notice has been reposted by prominent Chinese citizen journalist X account @whyyoutouzhele.
The notice, which began circulating online around Sept. 20, says students who donate blood can submit a screenshot confirming their donation to apply for leave during Sept. 28–30, the three working days separating the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday from the National Day holiday.
It is unclear whether the leave applications have been approved or how many students have received the additional days off.
This year, China’s Mid-Autumn Festival holiday ran from Sept. 25 to 27, followed by the National Day holiday from Oct. 1 to 7. If the three intervening weekdays are granted as leave, students could be away from classes for 13 consecutive days.
A woman who answered the phone at the university president’s office told The Epoch Times that blood donation by students is voluntary and that students are not being forced to donate. She did not explain why successful donors could apply for the additional leave while students who did not donate were required to attend classes.
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One woman in Shenyang told said she believed it’s part of efforts to increase blood donations.
“Now very few ordinary people are willing to donate blood,” she said.
The university has previously made adjustments to class schedules in connection with student blood donations. In a 2017 notice, the university’s Academic Affairs Office said individual schools could adjust professional-course schedules based on the timing of blood donations and the number of participating students.
That document addressed teaching arrangements during blood-donation activities but did not state that donating blood could be used as a condition for obtaining additional vacation time.
China’s Blood Donation Law establishes a system of voluntary, unpaid donation, and encourages healthy citizens to donate blood. The latest notice circulating online does not explain whether students who are medically unable to donate can apply for the same leave.
A physician surnamed Wang at Nanfang Hospital in Guangzhou, China, told The Epoch Times that she had encountered shortages of blood for clinical use and had heard of hospitals in her province allowing medical interns to exchange blood donations for time off.
“Many hospitals now have insufficient blood supplies. When many patients come to the hospital and need blood transfusions, they will ask the patients’ family members to donate blood, and give [the patient] as much as they donate,” she said. “There are fewer and fewer blood donors now. I’ve also heard that some hospitals in Guangdong let interns donate blood in exchange for time off.”
The university has not disclosed who issued the latest notice or how many students, if any, have been approved to take the additional leave.
Xiao Bin contributed to this report.
