There are currently seven officialpublic holidays in thePeople's Republic of China.^[1][2] Each year's holidays are announced about one month before the start of the year by theGeneral Office of theState Council. A notable feature of such holidays is that weekends are usually swapped with the weekdays next to the actual holiday to create a longer holiday period. Generally, by adjusting the adjacent weekends, a "golden week" or a three to five-day "short holiday" is formed.

Festivals inmainland China have been around since the Qin dynasty around 221–206 BC. During the more prosperousTang dynasty from AD 618–907, festivals involved less sacrifice and mystery to more entertainment.^[3] 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.^[4] There was then a major reform in 2008, abolishing theLabour DayGolden Week and adding three traditional Chinese holidays (Qingming Festival,Duanwu Festival, andMid-Autumn Festival).^[5] 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 onChinese New Year's Eve. In 2014, New Year's Eve became a working day again, which provoked hostile discussion bynetizens and academics.^[6][7] 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.

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 National Holidays and Anniversary Holidays Measures issued by the State Council is the highest administrative regulation for regulating national holidays. The establishment of theme holidays and industry-specific holidays is stipulated by law or approved by the State Council. At present, China's current statutory annual holiday standard is 13 days.^{[citation needed]}

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" (黄金周), 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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

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.

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.

• 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.

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.^[8][9]

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

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.

Article 5 of the Regulations on National Holidays and Anniversary Days stipulates that "No holidays will be given for February 7th Anniversary, May 30th Anniversary, July 7th Anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, September 3rd Anniversary of the Victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, September 18th Anniversary, Teachers' Day, Nurses' Day, Journalists' Day, Arbor Day, and other holidays and anniversaries."

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

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

In addition, the following autonomous prefectures celebrate their founding date (Chinese:州庆纪念日;pinyin:Zhōuqìng JìNiàn Rì or州庆日;Zhōuqìng Rì). Generally, the government takes one day off to all people working in such prefectures.

Some Chinese young adults have begun to celebrate 11 November as theSingles' Day (Chinese:光棍节;pinyin:guāng gùn jié) because of the many ones (1s) and many singles in the date.^[27]

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

• List of annual events in China
• List of observances set by the Chinese calendar
• Public holidays in Hong Kong
• Public holidays in Macau
• Public holidays in Taiwan

• "Chinese Holidays" (in Chinese). Xinhua. Archived fromthe original on 2008-05-09.

• Public holidays in China
• Culture of the People's Republic of China
• Lists of public holidays by country
• Lists of organized events in China

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