There are currently seven official public holidays in the mainland territory of the People's Republic of China. There was a major reform in 2008, adding three traditional Chinese holidays - Qingming Festival, Duanwu Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival.[1] A notable feature of mainland Chinese holidays is that weekend is often combined with weekday holidays (by exchanging work days) to form a "long weekend".
Note on duration and 2009 dates: Most sources in China count the total number of days off (including statutory holidays, transferred days and weekends), which is important for Chinese people working a seven-day week. E.g. a holiday on a Friday is always announced as a three day holiday (Friday-Sunday). See the references for details of transferred holidays in 2009. The table above does not count weekends.
[edit] Transferred holidays
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 holidays are called "Golden Weeks" (黄金周), and have become peak seasons for travel and tourism. From 2008, the Labor Day holiday was shortened to one day, and three traditional Chinese holidays will be added.
Generally, if there is a 3 day holiday, the government will declare it to be a 7 day holiday, making the weekend after normal working days. This means that shops, banks, schools, etc., treat Saturday and Sunday as if they were Monday and Tuesday (or whatever weekdays they have been 'swapped' with). The resulting disruption is accepted as normal.
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 | Duration | Applicable to |
| March 8 | International Women's Day | 国际妇女节 | half-day | Women |
| May 4 | Youth Day | 青年节 | half-day | Youth above the age of 14 |
| June 1 | Children's Day | 六一儿童节 | 1 day | Children below the age of 14 |
| August 1 | Army Day | 建军节 | half-day | Military personnel in active service |
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.
[edit] Traditional holiday scheme
[edit] Novel holidays
Some Chinese young adults have begun to celebrate 11 November as Singles' Day because of the many ones (1s) in the date.
[edit] 2006 example
New Year's Day Holiday, 2006 | Dec | Jan |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| W | T | F | S | S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| Weekdays | Weekend | Weekdays | Weekend |
| becomes |
| Weekdays | Holiday | Moved Weekend | Weekdays | Weekend |
Chinese New Year Holiday, 2006 | Jan | Feb |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| F | S | S | M | T | W | T | F | S | S | M |
| Weekdays | Weekend | Weekdays | Weekend | Weekdays |
| becomes |
| Weekdays | Holiday | Moved Weekend | Moved Weekend | Weekdays |
Labor Day Holiday, 2006 | Apr | May |
| 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| S | S | M | T | W | T | F | S | S | M | T |
| Weekend | Weekdays | Weekend | Weekdays |
| becomes |
| Weekdays | Holiday | Moved Weekend | Weekend | "Weekdays" |
National Day Holiday, 2006 | Sept | Oct |
| 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| F | S | S | M | T | W | T | F | S | S | M |
| Weekdays | Weekend | Weekdays | Weekend | Weekdays |
| becomes |
| Weekdays | Holiday | Moved Weekend | Moved Weekend | Weekdays |
[edit] See also
[edit] Works Cited
- ^ Xinhuanet.com "Xinhuanet.com." How will people spend China's 1st Qingming Festival holiday?. Retrieved on 2008-04-04.
- ^ Tom Qian and Li Xinran (2008). "China sets first 8-day holiday for next year". Shanghai Daily. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=384099&type=National. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
The practical outworkings of the announced dates were confirmed using
Steven Zhao (2008). "China Public Holidays 2009" (Staff blog). China Highlights (state-owned tour agency. http://chinahighlightstravel.blogspot.com/2008/12/china-public-holidays-2009-coming-out.html. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
Min Guo (2008). "2009 China Public Holidays announced" (Blog). CNReviews.com. http://cnreviews.com/china/china_public_holiday_2009_20081210.html. Retrieved 2008-12-11. - ^ Thursday 1 is a statutory holiday. Friday 2 is a holiday; Friday work schedules transfer to Sunday 4. Most workers will have three days' holiday.
- ^ a b The three-day public holiday began on Chinese New Year's Day itself from 2000 to 2007. It will be shifted back by one day, and will begin on Chinese New Year's Eve, starting from 2008.
- ^ Sunday 25 (New Year's Eve), Monday 26 (New Year's Day) and Tuesday 27 are statutory holidays. Because New Year's Eve falls at the weekend, Wednesday 28 is given in lieu. Thursday 29 is an additional bonus holiday. Friday 30 is a holiday; Friday work schedules transfer to Sunday 1 February. This is officially counted as eight days' holiday (Saturday-Saturday).
- ^ Saturday 4 is a statutory holiday, but it falls at the weekend, so Monday 6 is given in lieu. The authorities count this as three days' holiday (Saturday-Monday).
- ^ This is officially counted as three days' holiday (Friday-Sunday).
- ^ Thursday 28 is a statutory holiday. Friday 29 is a holiday; work schedules transfer to Sunday 31. This is officially counted as three days' holiday (Thursday-Saturday).
- ^ a b Thursday 1 October and Friday 2 October are statutory holidays for National Day. Saturday 3 October is a statutory holiday for both Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, and it falls at the weekend, so Monday 5 is given in lieu. Sunday 4 is not a working day because it falls at the weekend. Monday 6 is a holiday; working schedules are transferred to Sunday 27 September. Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 are holidays; working schedules are transferred to Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October.
[edit] References
- "Chinese Holidays" (in Chinese). Xinhua. http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2003-01/18/content_695315.htm.
