China has 16 legal holidays, including New Year's Day, Spring
Festival, May Day, National Day, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat
Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival when all Chinese people will be
on vacation. The other nine are for special industries or specific
people like Women's Day, Arbor Day, Youth Day, International Nurse
Day, Children's Day, Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese
Communist Party (the Party's Birthday) and Army Day of the Chinese
People's Liberation Army, Teacher's Day, and Journalists' Day.
Peak time for travel in China always occurs on National Day, which
we Chinese call the 'Seven-day Golden Week', sometimes the New
Year's Day and Spring Festival. Hotel rooms, train tickets or air
tickets will definitely be in great demand then. So it is smart
to avoid going to China during these peak festivals, because of
the crowds and the difficulty of travel.
| Festival |
Date |
Number
of off days |
| New Year's Day |
January 1st |
1 day |
| Spring Festival |
Subject to the lunation, normally in January or February |
3 days (New Year's Eve, 1st and 2nd day of the first lunar
month) |
| May Day |
May 1st |
1 day (May 1st) |
| National Day |
October 1st |
3 days (October 1st, 2nd and 3rd ) |
| Qingming Festival |
April 5th |
1 day (April 5th) |
| Dragon Boat Festival |
The 5th day of the 5th lunar month |
1 day (5th day of the 5th lunar month) |
| Mid-Autumn Festival |
The 15th day of the 8th lunar month |
1 day (The 15th day of the 8th lunar month) |
| Women's Day |
March 8th |
half day for women |
| Arbor Day |
March 12th |
No days off |
| Youth Day |
May 4th |
Half day for the youth above 14 years |
| International Nurse Day |
May 12th |
No days off |
| Children's Day |
June 1st |
1 day for children under 13 years |
| Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese Communist Party |
July 1st |
No days off |
| Army Day of the Chinese People's Liberation Army |
August 1st |
Half day for active army |
| Teacher's Day |
September 10th |
No days off |
| Journalists' Day |
November 8th |
No days off |
|
