Chinese wage earners spent an average of 18.13 days on vacation last year, according to a survey released by Horizonkey, a leading domestic consulting and research institute.

Senior managers in corporations and governmental departments enjoyed the longest vacation of 23.86 days, while blue-collar workers and those in service industries had the shortest yearly vacation of 16.27 days.

Chinese workers now have three days off for each of three legal holidays: the International Labor Day, the National Day and the Spring Festival, in addition to regular weekends. Under China's labor laws, an employer who has worked a full year will be eligible to have a five-day paid vacation, and the vacation will extend along with the length of services.

The survey found that about 10.3 percent of employees claimed they had not taken any day off for vacation apart from the legal holidays.

According to the survey, 17.1 percent of the polled said they didn't get any compensation for working overtime.

The survey also uncovered a special culture in Chinese enterprises: those who sacrificed their holidays to work were encouraged to do so, while those who took vacation regularly would be considered as "not dedicated to work enough".