China worker wins surprise 10-day paid leave on first day back from Spring Festival holiday

A Chinese employee became the envy of social media after she won a surprise prize of 10 days’ paid leave on the first day she returned to work from the Spring Festival holiday.

On February 24, the first workday following the nine-day holiday during the Chinese New Year, a video showing the employees’ lucky draw went viral, attracting 120,000 likes and 9,000 comments.

The video was taken in the renowned spicy gluten latiao company Mala Prince in central China’s Hunan province and was posted by the founder’s son, Zhang Zilong, under his account named “Mala Son”.

The 26-year-old gained online fame in 2024 by revealing the shocking story that his father had kept their family wealth a secret from him for the first 20 years of his life so that he would live in a down-to-earth manner.

Zhang junior now works as the manager of one of the company’s social media departments. The company’s account has 700,000 followers while Zhang junior has 250,000 online fans.

Zhang junior waited with a lottery box at the company’s entrance on the morning of the first workday to surprise his employees.