Leisure in China

Much research has been conducted into the nature and significance of leisure. Although leisure is popularly thought of as the opposite of work, it is generally defined in terms of “freedom from constraint,” “time left over after worK,” or “free time after obligatory social duties have been met” (Torkildsen, 1992:25). However, according to Parry, leisure as a social phenomenon involves social constraint and social obligation and can best be thought of as being embodied in a whole way of life. Such an idea of leisure even invokes the concept of culture (Parry and Parry, 1977). The complexity and diversity of leisure are also illustrated by Kaplan, who, from a sociological point of view, argued that “nothing is definable as leisure per se and almost anything is definable as leisure, given a synthesis of elements” (Kaplan, 1975:19).