The proposal to overhaul China's national holiday system has put the feasibility of paid vacations in the spotlight as surveys show it's a "luxury" for most Chinese.

Only about 15.6 percent of respondents to a Xinhuanet.com survey said they had taken a paid holiday this year. Another 13.7 percent were to take vacations soon, while 70.6 percent would take no time off.

A similar result was recorded in a China Youth Daily-Sina.com survey in which 73 percent of 74,379 respondents said they never enjoyed "any paid vacations."

In an online survey of 5,000 professionals by Chinahr.com, a human resource website, almost 11 percent said they had "never heard of any paid vacations" in their companies.

Zhang Tingwen, Chinahr.com vice president, said more "horrible" results would occur when workers in small- and medium-sized enterprises, making up more than 90 percent of the country's business sector, were surveyed.

"Many companies in China have no system of paid vacation, or the system is written in employees' manuals but not implemented," he said.

Most companies still held the conventional idea of "work more, produce more," he added.

Zhang said paid vacation was a luxury for Chinese competing in an increasingly fierce job market.

"Paid vacation seems the last thing on workers minds as much more urgent issues need to be addressed, such as working overtime without payment and employers not paying social security funds," he said.

An unnamed human resource manager said the feasibility of paid vacations was closely linked to the country's economic development and per capita GDP. "When a country is growing, more work means more surplus value," he added.

Earlier this month, the government announced a draft overhaul of its national holiday system.

It proposed canceling the May Day "golden week" and adding three traditional festivals as national holidays in its place.

A Beijing Federation of Trade Unions spokesman said ensuring paid vacations would show respect for people's rights to rest and be an incentive to work harder.