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Public holidays in China

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There are currently seven official public holidays on Mainland China.<ref name=cn2025 /><ref name=cn2014>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Each year's holidays are announced about one month before the start of the year by the General Office of the State Council. A notable feature of mainland Chinese holidays is that weekends are usually swapped with the weekdays next to the actual holiday to create a longer holiday period.

Date Length (without weekends)<ref name=cn2025 /> English name Chinese name (Simplified) Pinyin Remarks
1 January 1 day New Year's Day Template:Linktext lang}}
1st day of 1st Lunisolar month 4 days (Chinese New Year's Eve, 1st, 2nd and 3rd days of 1st Lunisolar month)<ref name=cn2025 /> Spring FestivalTemplate:Efn (aka Chinese New Year) Template:Linktext lang}} Usually occurs in late January or early February. The most important holiday, celebrating the start of a new year
5 April (4 or 6 April in some years) 1 day Tomb-Sweeping Day Template:Linktext lang}} Occurs about 15 days after the March Equinox; day for paying respect to one's ancestors
1 May 2 days<ref name=cn2025 /> Labour Day Template:Linktext lang}} International Workers' Day
5th day of 5th Lunisolar month 1 day Dragon Boat Festival Template:Linktext lang}} Usually occurs in June; commemoration of the ancient poet Qu Yuan
15th day of 8th Lunisolar month 1 day Mid-Autumn Festival Template:Linktext lang}} Usually occurs in September; important autumn celebration of harvest and togetherness
1 October citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>|| National Day || Template:Linktext || {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} || Commemorating the formal proclamation of the establishment of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949

File:National Day decorations - Beihai Park.JPG
Chinese National Day in 2004 at Beihai Park, Beijing

HistoryEdit

Festivals in China have been around since the Qin dynasty around 221–206 BC. During the more prosperous Tang dynasty from AD 618–907, festivals involved less sacrifice and mystery to more entertainment.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Culminating to the modern era Between the 1920s until around the 1970s, the Chinese began observing two sets of holidays, which were the traditional and what became "official", celebrating the accomplishments of the communist regime.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There was then a major reform in 2008, abolishing the Labour Day Golden Week and adding three traditional Chinese holidays (Qingming Festival, Duanwu Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival).<ref>Xinhuanet.com "Xinhuanet.com." How will people spend China's 1st Qingming Festival holiday?. Retrieved on 2008-04-04.</ref> From at least 2000 until this reform, the Spring Festival public holiday began on New Year's Day itself. From 2008 to 2013 it was shifted back by one day to begin on Chinese New Year's Eve. In 2014, New Year's Eve became a working day again, which provoked hostile discussion by netizens and academics.<ref name="wsj2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=reuters2013>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> However, since 2015, Chinese New Year's Eve is usually swapped with nearby weekends so that people need not work on Chinese New Year's Eve.

OverviewEdit

Holidays in China are complicated and are one of the least predictable among developing nations. In all these holidays, if the holiday lands on a weekend, the days will be reimbursed after the weekend.

The Chinese New Year and National Day holidays are three days long. The week-long holidays on May (Labor) Day and National Day began in 2000, as a measure to increase and encourage holiday spending. The resulting seven-day or eight-day (if Mid-Autumn Festival is near National Day) holidays are called "Golden Weeks" (Template:Zh), and have become peak seasons for travel and tourism. In 2008, the Labor Day holiday was shortened to three days to reduce travel rushes to just twice a year, and instead, three traditional Chinese holidays were added.

Generally, if there is a three-day or four-day (if Mid-Autumn Festival is near National Day) holiday, the government will declare it to be a seven-day or eight-day holiday. However, citizens are required to work during a nearby weekend. Businesses and schools would then treat the affected Saturdays and Sundays as the weekdays that the weekend has been swapped with. Schedules are released late in the year prior and might change during the year.

The following is a graphical schematic of how the weekend shifting works.

Weekend shifting scheme (since 2014)Edit

Spring FestivalEdit

Shift the Saturdays and Sundays nearby to make a 7-day holiday. People may need to work for 6 or 7 continuous days before or after the holiday.

National Day (not near Mid-Autumn Festival)Edit

Shift the Saturdays and Sundays nearby to make a 7-day holiday. The holiday is from 1 to 7 October. People may need to work for 6 or 7 continuous days before or after the holiday.

New Year, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Labor Day (before 2020), Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival (not near National Day)Edit

  • Wednesday: No weekend shifting. The holiday is only 1 day long. This is to prevent people from working for 7 continuous days since 2014. Sometimes shift the Sundays nearby to make a 4-day holiday. People may need to work for 6 continuous days after the holiday.
  • Tuesday or Thursday: Shift the Saturdays and Sundays nearby to make a 3-day holiday. People may need to work for 6 continuous days before or after the holiday.
  • Saturday or Sunday: The public holiday is transferred to Monday.

Labor Day (since 2020)Edit

Shift the Saturdays or Sundays nearby to make a 5-day holiday. People may need to work for 6 consecutive days before or after the holiday.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Additional holidays for specific social groupsEdit

In addition to these holidays, applicable to the whole population, there are four official public holidays applicable to specific sections of the population:

Date English name Chinese name Pinyin Applicable to
8 March International Women's Day Template:Linktext lang}} Women (half-day)
4 May Youth Day Template:Linktext lang}} Youth from the age of 14 to 28 (half-day)
1 June Children's Day Template:Linktext lang}} Children below the age of 14 (half-day)
1 August Army Day Template:Linktext lang}} Military personnel in active service (half-day)

The closeness of Labor Day and Youth Day resulted in an unexpectedly long break for schools in 2008 - the Youth Day half-holiday entitlement had been largely forgotten because it has been subsumed into the Golden Week.

Traditional holiday schemeEdit

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Date English name Local name Pinyin Remarks
1 January New Year Template:Linktext lang}} Also the day of the establishment of the first Chinese Republic
1st day of 1st Lunisolar month Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) Template:Linktext lang}} Based on Chinese calendar. Holidays last seamlessly, two full weeks, up to the Lantern Festival (see below).
15th day of 1st Lunisolar month Lantern Festival Template:Linktext lang}} Based on Chinese calendar
2nd day of 2nd Lunisolar month Zhonghe Festival (Dragon Raising its Head) Template:Linktext lang}} Based on Chinese calendar
8 March International Women's Day Template:Linktext lang}}
12 March Arbor Day Template:Linktext lang}} Also known as National Tree Planting Day (Template:Zh)
5th Solar Term (usually 4–6 April) Qingming Festival (Chinese Memorial Day) Template:Linktext lang}} Based on the Qingming solar term.
1 May Labour Day Template:Linktext lang}} International Workers' Day
4 May Youth Day Template:Linktext lang}} Commemorating the 1919 May Fourth Movement
1 June Children's Day Template:Linktext lang}}
5th day of 5th Lunisolar month Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwujie) Template:Linktext lang}} Based on Chinese calendar
1 July Chinese Communist Party Founding Day Template:Linktext lang}} Formation of 1st National Congress in July 1921
11 July China National Maritime Day Template:Linktext lang}} The anniversary of Zheng He's first voyage
1 August People's Liberation Army Day Template:Linktext lang}} Anniversary of the Nanchang Uprising on 1 August 1927
7th day of 7th Lunisolar month Double Seven Festival Template:Linktext lang}} The Chinese Valentine's Day, based on Chinese calendar
15th day of 7th Lunisolar month Spirit Festival (Ghost Festival) Template:Linktext lang}} Based on Chinese calendar
15th day of 8th Lunisolar month Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) Template:Linktext lang}} Based on Chinese calendar
3 September Victory over Japan Day Template:Linktext lang}} Honoring the Allied victory over Japan and the end of the Second World War in the Pacific (new holiday established 2014)
30 September Martyrs' Day Template:Linktext lang}} Honoring all the fallen of the country right before National Day, new holiday established in 2014<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1 October National Day Template:Linktext lang}} Founding of PRC on 1 October 1949
10 October Wuchang Uprising Template:Linktext lang}} Commemoration of the anti-monarch uprising against the Qing which began the Xinhai Revolution
9th day of 9th Lunisolar month Chongyang Festival Template:Linktext lang}} Based on Chinese calendar.
13 December Nanking Massacre Memorial Day Template:Linktext lang}} New holiday established in 2014 to honor the thousands of Chinese lives lost during the events of the 1937 Nanking Massacre.

Ethnic minorities' holidaysEdit

There are public holidays celebrated by certain ethnic minorities in certain regions, which are decided by local governments. The following are holidays at the provincial level.

Date English name Local name Chinese name Pinyin Ethnic groups Remarks
1st day of Tibetan year Losar Template:Bo-textonly lang}} lang}} Tibetan 7 days in Tibet
30.6 of Tibetan calendar Sho Dun Template:Bo-textonly lang}} lang}} Tibetan 1 day in Tibet
1 Shawwal of Islamic calendar Eid ul-Fitr lang}} lang}} Hui, Uyghur and other Muslims 2 days in Ningxia; 1 day in Xinjiang
10 Dhu al-Hijjah of Islamic calendar Eid al-Adha lang}} lang}} Hui, Uyghur and other Muslims 2 days in Ningxia; 3 days in Xinjiang
3rd day of the 3rd Lunisolar month Sam Nyied Sam lang}} lang}} lang}} Zhuang 3 days in Guangxi

The following are traditional holidays at the prefectural level, and there are more at lower-level divisions, i.e. county-level.

Date Celebrating location English name Chinese name Pinyin Ethnic groups Remarks
6th day of the 6th Lunisolar month Qiannan and Qianxinan Liuyueliu lang}} lang}} Bouyei 1 day in Qiannan and Qianxinan
8th day of the 8th Lunisolar month Qiannan and Qianxinan Bayueba lang}} lang}} Miao 1 day in Qiannan and Qianxinan
10th day of the 9th Lunisolar month Dehong lang}} lang}} Achang 2 days in Dehong
1st day of Tibetan year Dêqên, Garzê, Gannan and Ngawa Losar lang}} lang}} xīnnián Tibetan 3 days in Dêqên, Garzê, Gannan and Ngawa
24th day of the 6th Lunisolar month Honghe lang}} lang}} Hani 2 days in Honghe
24th day of the 6th Lunisolar month Chuxiong, Liangshan and Honghe Fire Festival lang}} lang}} Yi 5 days in Chuxiong, Liangshan and 3 days in Honghe
20 September Nujiang lang}} lang}} Lisu 3 days in Nujiang
15th day of the 1st Lunisolar month Dehong Manau Festival lang}} lang}} Jingpo 2 days in Dehong
5th day of the 5th Lunisolar month Wenshan lang}} lang}} Miao 3 days in Wenshan, often celebrated together with Dragon Boat Festival
13 April Dehong and Xishuangbanna Water-Sprinkling Festival or Songkran lang}} lang}} Dai 2 days in Dehong and Xishuangbanna
1st day of the 10th Lunisolar month Ngawa Qiang New Year lang}} lang}} Qiang 5 days in Ngawa
15th to 22nd day of the 3rd Lunisolar month Dali Third Month Fair lang}} lang}} Bai 7 days in Dali
3rd day of the 3rd Lunisolar month Wenshan Sam Nyied Sam lang}} lang}} Zhuang 3 days in Wenshan
1st day of the Yi Calendar, often falls in the 10th Lunisolar month Chuxiong and Liangshan Yi New Year lang}} lang}} Yi 5 days in Chuxiong and Liangshan
1 Shawwal of Islamic calendar Linxia Eid ul-Fitr lang}} lang}} Hui 3 days in Linxia
10 Dhu al-Hijjah of Islamic calendar Linxia Eid al-Adha or Kurban Festival lang}} lang}} Hui 3 days in Linxia

In addition, the following autonomous prefectures celebrate their founding date (Template:Zh or Template:Zh). Generally, the government takes one day off to all people working in such prefectures.

Celebrating location Date
Chuxiong 15 April
Dali 22 November
Dehong 23 July
Dêqên 13 September
Enshi 19 August
Gannan 1 October
Garzê 24 November
Liangshan 1 October
Linxia 19 November
Ngawa 2 January
Nujiang 23 August
Qiandongnan 23 July
Qiannan 8 August
Qianxinan 1 May
Wenshan 1 April
Xiangxi 20 September
Xishuangbanna 23 January
Yanbian 3 September

Novel holidaysEdit

Some Chinese young adults have begun to celebrate 11 November as the Singles' Day (Template:Zh) because of the many ones (1s) and many singles in the date.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Serfs' Emancipation Day, celebrated on March 28, was established in Tibet in 2009.

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Template:China topics Template:Asia topic Template:PRC Holidays Template:Portal bar

ja:中華人民共和国#祝祭日

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