The main problem that is caused with TCs and public holidays is that the public schools in china insist on 'making up' classes that are missed as the result of the holiday (it begs the question why have the holiday in the first place?). These made up classes generally happen at the weekend, which is when TCs do most of their business so the TC is required to cancel classes at the weekend because most students will be at public school.

TCs teach adults as well as students, and the making up days for public holidays is not just a public school thing, it affects every industry in China!

Even the baboons that run most TCs understand the basic principle that you need to keep course production high in order to turn a profit so they will usually reschedule the weekend classes during the middle of the week when the students are off - the short holidays are usually 3 days with 1 day being the actual festival/official holiday which they usually choose to avoid scheduling classes on but they'll view the other 2 days as fair game and they certainly won't pay overtime for you working during them. From what I've seen of TC contracts they usually only pay overtime when you exceed your contracted hours and even then that is usually only calculated on a weekly average over the month, meaning you might get screwed with high hours one week as a result of them shuffling classes around due to public holidays but so long as they can get the average down over the rest of the month you won't be paid any extra. The other issue is when they decide to make you work during a public holiday and then give you a day in lieu. The day on which the holiday is taken is then usually decided by the employer and not the employee and you shouldn't be surprised to find that it'll be a day when the school is quiet - again course production overrides the needs and wants of teachers and in some cases the law itself (whatever that might mean in china)

That doesn't mean TCs are not doing wrong, some have been f**ked for breaking those laws in the past! Also, even if they are given that day off in lieu, they are still entitled to the double/triple pay for working on the public holiday according to the law, as far as I am aware, regardless of the terms of the contract. That has been the case of a few companies that I have worked at, some staff members would even volunteer to work during the spring festival to bank all this extra cash.

As far as awareness of these terms amongst teachers go, my mate who works part-time at a TC caught them out with this, noticing a discrepancy on his paycheck. He didn't call in the authorities though- he was technically working illegally anyway as it was part-time, he just gave a couple of gangster friends a call and lead them into the manager's office, lol. I trust that he got his money and did not work another single hour for them.

I totally agree that employers should explain these differences to prospective employees before they arrive in China. Most westerners will arrive here with the idea that a holiday is a holiday and doesn't require making up the time lost at an earlier/later date - this issue causes friction between foreign teachers and Chinese employers involved in both public and private education in china.

This needs not be suggested, it should be a given.