Chinese Public Holidays Explained — Dates, Makeup Workdays, Golden Week

What are Chinese statutory holidays?

China's labor law guarantees 11 paid holiday days per year, distributed across 7 festival periods. These include New Year's Day (元旦), Spring Festival (春节), Tomb Sweeping Day (清明), Labor Day (劳动节), Dragon Boat Festival (端午), Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋), and National Day (国庆). For longer festivals like Spring Festival and National Day, the government shifts adjacent weekend days to create 7–8 day continuous breaks. The shifted weekends become makeup workdays (调休补班), shown in red on Calendar Shuttle.

How the makeup workday system (调休) works

To build long holidays without increasing total days off, China rearranges weekends. A typical pattern: the government designates one or two weekend days before or after a holiday as workdays, and in return gives employees a longer consecutive break. For example, if a holiday falls on Thursday, Friday might become a rest day while the preceding Sunday becomes a makeup workday. This means employees work on a day they'd normally have off, but gain a longer unbroken stretch of rest. The total number of working days in the year stays roughly the same.

2026 China public holidays — key dates

The 7 statutory holiday periods are listed below. The festival dates themselves are fixed by either the Gregorian calendar (New Year's Day, Labor Day, National Day) or by astronomy (Tomb Sweeping is tied to the Qingming solar term; Spring Festival, Dragon Boat, and Mid-Autumn fall on specific lunar dates). However, the exact makeup workday schedule (调休) is announced annually by the State Council's General Office and varies year to year. For the officially announced makeup workday dates, see Calendar Shuttle's monthly view — data is pulled live from the official source.

• New Year's Day (元旦): January 1, 2026 — 1 statutory day off. No makeup workday.
• Spring Festival (春节): Lunar New Year's Day is February 17, 2026 (the Year of the Horse). The State Council typically extends this into a 7–8 day consecutive break with 1–2 adjacent weekends shifted to makeup workdays. Since 2024 the default break is 8 days.
• Tomb Sweeping Day (清明): Around April 5, 2026, tied to the Qingming solar term — typically 1 statutory day off, sometimes extended with adjacent weekends into a 3-day break.
• Labor Day (劳动节): May 1, 2026 — 1 statutory day off, usually extended via makeup workdays into a 3–5 day consecutive break.
• Dragon Boat Festival (端午): 5th day of the 5th lunar month — falls on June 19, 2026. 1 statutory day off, sometimes combined with adjacent weekends for a 3-day break.
• Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋): 15th day of the 8th lunar month — falls on September 25, 2026. 1 statutory day off, often combined with adjacent weekends.
• National Day (国庆): October 1, 2026 — 3 statutory days off (Oct 1–3), routinely extended to a 7-day consecutive break (“Golden Week”) by shifting 1–2 weekends.

The festival dates above are astronomically determined and do not change. The makeup workday assignments that turn each festival into a longer break are decided each December by the State Council — check Calendar Shuttle for the current arrangement.

How to check Chinese holidays with Calendar Shuttle

1. Visit calendar.shuttlelab.org — the current month displays by default.
2. Navigate to the target month using the left and right arrows.
3. Read the color codes — green dates are rest days (放假), red dates are makeup workdays (补班).
4. Click any date to see festival names, lunar calendar date, and solar term information in a detail panel.

Planning cross-border meetings around Chinese holidays

If you work with teams in China, avoid scheduling important meetings during the 7 holiday periods — especially the 7–8 day stretches around Spring Festival (Lunar New Year, falls between late January and mid-February depending on the year; Feb 17 in 2026) and National Day (starting October 1 every year). During these periods, most Chinese offices are closed and response times drop significantly. Also note the makeup workdays: your Chinese colleagues will be working on what would normally be a weekend, so those days are fine for meetings. Use Calendar Shuttle to check both rest days and makeup workdays at a glance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are China's statutory public holidays?

China has 7 statutory holiday periods totaling 11 paid days per year: New Year's Day (Jan 1), Spring Festival (1st day of the 1st lunar month — Feb 17 in 2026), Tomb Sweeping Day / Qingming (around Apr 5), Labor Day (May 1), Dragon Boat Festival (5th of 5th lunar month — Jun 19 in 2026), Mid-Autumn Festival (15th of 8th lunar month — Sep 25 in 2026), and National Day (Oct 1). The State Council typically extends Spring Festival and National Day into 7–8 day breaks by shifting adjacent weekends.

What are makeup workdays (调休补班) in China?

To create consecutive long holidays without increasing the total number of paid days off, China shifts adjacent weekend days into workdays. For a typical Spring Festival or National Day, 1–2 weekend days are re-designated as makeup workdays, in exchange for 7–8 days of continuous rest. The exact arrangement is published by the State Council's General Office in December for the following year. Calendar Shuttle marks makeup workdays in red and rest days in green.

When is Spring Festival 2026?

Spring Festival 2026 (the Year of the Horse) falls on February 17, 2026 — the first day of the 1st lunar month. The State Council typically grants a 7–8 day consecutive break around this date, with 1–2 adjacent weekend days designated as makeup workdays. Since 2024, the standard Spring Festival break has been extended from 7 to 8 days. For the exact officially announced dates, see Calendar Shuttle's calendar view — data is pulled live from the State Council announcement.

How many days off is National Day in China?

National Day starts October 1 every year and is typically extended to 7 consecutive days off (often called the 'Golden Week'). As with other long holidays, 1–2 adjacent weekend days are shifted to makeup workdays. When Mid-Autumn Festival happens to fall close to October 1, the two holidays may merge into a longer combined break — check Calendar Shuttle for the current year's specific arrangement.

How does the Chinese holiday system work?

Chinese labor law guarantees 11 paid holiday days per year, distributed across 7 festivals. For longer festivals like Spring Festival and National Day, the government shifts adjacent weekend days to create 7–8 day breaks. The shifted weekends become makeup workdays, marked in red on Calendar Shuttle.

Where does Calendar Shuttle get its holiday data?

Holiday rest/work data comes from the holiday.js module at cdn.1htr.cn, which is updated when the State Council's General Office publishes the annual holiday arrangement, typically each December. Lunar and festival data comes from the open-source jjonline/calendar.js project.

Can I see Chinese holidays on Google Calendar?

Google Calendar includes Chinese public holidays but does not show makeup workdays. Calendar Shuttle marks both rest days (green) and makeup workdays (red), making it the better choice for planning around the full holiday schedule.

When does China announce next year's holidays?

The State Council's General Office typically publishes the next year's holiday arrangement in early-to-mid December. Calendar Shuttle updates its data once the official announcement is made.