China has seven public holidays a year, giving citizens 13 statutory days off. In 2026 they fall on 1–3 January, 15–23 February, 4–6 April, 1–5 May, 19–21 June, 25–27 September and 1–7 October. Two of them — Spring Festival and National Day — will reshape your trip whether you planned for them or not.
Most calendars stop at that list. The list is the easy part. What actually catches visitors out is the machinery around it: the six weekend days in 2026 that China converts into working days, the fact that you physically cannot buy a high-speed train ticket more than 15 days ahead, and the gap between two holidays that looks like one long block on a planning app but isn't. At LyrikTrip we build private itineraries around these dates every year, and the same three surprises come up again and again — none of which appear on a standard holiday table.
This guide is a reference, not a verdict. If what you actually want to know is whether to travel in a given window, that is a different question and we answer it in our guide on when not to visit China.
Key Takeaways
- Seven holidays, 13 statutory days off. The 2024 revision of China's holiday regulations raised the statutory count from 11 to 13, effective 2025.
- Six weekends in 2026 are working days. The next two are Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October 2026 — both compensating for National Day.
- Spring Festival and National Day are the only two that force a decision. The other five change how crowded you'll be, not whether your plans work.
- You cannot book trains far ahead. China Railway's 12306 releases tickets 15 days before departure — so the winning move is an alarm, not an early booking.
- Every 2027 calendar in circulation is unofficial. The State Council had not published the 2027 arrangement as of August 2026, and the versions floating around contradict each other.
How many public holidays does China have?
Seven — and they add up to 13 statutory days off. That number changed recently: the 2024 revision of the Regulations on National Holidays and Memorial Days, effective from 2025, raised the statutory total from 11 days to 13 and extended the Spring Festival's statutory portion to four days.
The seven are New Year's Day, Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), Qingming (Tomb-Sweeping Day), Labour Day, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. Four of them follow the lunar calendar, so their Gregorian dates move every year.
Separately, four half-day observances apply only to specific groups — Women's Day, Youth Day, Children's Day and Army Day. They do not close anything and travellers can ignore them. Britons looking for the equivalent of bank holidays should read the seven above as exactly that: these are China's bank holidays, and the banking system follows them.
China public holidays 2026: the official dates
The 2026 arrangement was published by the General Office of the State Council on 4 November 2025. Everything below comes from that notice.
| Holiday | 2026 dates | Days off | Make-up workdays |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | 1–3 January (Thu–Sat) | 3 | Sunday 4 January |
| Spring Festival | 15–23 February (Sun–Mon) | 9 | Saturday 14 February, Saturday 28 February |
| Qingming Festival | 4–6 April (Sat–Mon) | 3 | — |
| Labour Day | 1–5 May (Fri–Tue) | 5 | Saturday 9 May |
| Dragon Boat Festival | 19–21 June (Fri–Sun) | 3 | — |
| Mid-Autumn Festival | 25–27 September (Fri–Sun) | 3 | — |
| National Day | 1–7 October (Thu–Wed) | 7 | Sunday 20 September, Saturday 10 October |
The current version of this table lives in the original guide.
Two things worth noticing. The nine-day Spring Festival is the longest in the People's Republic's history. And the two seven-plus-day blocks — Spring Festival and National Day — are the two commonly called Golden Weeks.
If you are reading this in the second half of 2026, only two holidays remain: Mid-Autumn on 25–27 September and National Day on 1–7 October.
The catch nobody tells you: make-up workdays
To build a long holiday, China moves nearby weekends onto the working calendar — so a Saturday or Sunday next to a long break is often a normal workday. In 2026 there are six of them. Most holiday calendars written for travellers omit this entirely.
The logic comes from the same 2024 regulation, which sets a ceiling rather than a schedule: apart from exceptional cases, the run of consecutive working days before or after a statutory holiday should not exceed six. Extending a three-day break to nine has to be paid for somewhere, and it is paid for with weekends.
Three practical consequences:
- A weekend on your itinerary may not be a weekend. Offices, banks and schools run normally; rush hour happens as usual.
- A make-up workday is a bad day to travel and a good day to get things done. Domestic transport is busy because the holiday is imminent, but banks, currency exchange, visa offices and consulates are open — which they will not be during the holiday itself.
- The first and last days of any long holiday are the worst. The whole country departs and returns together. The middle days are noticeably calmer.
The two-holidays-that-look-like-one trap
In autumn 2026 the Mid-Autumn Festival ends on 27 September, and National Day begins on 1 October. The three days in between — 28, 29 and 30 September — are ordinary working days. Several planning tools render 25 September to 7 October as one continuous shaded block. It is not one block.
The useful inversion: those three days sit between two national holidays, which makes them one of the quieter windows in the entire autumn. If your dates are flexible and you want September–October without the crush, that is where to aim.
China public holidays 2027 (not yet official)
As of August 2026 the State Council had not published the 2027 arrangement, so every 2027 calendar you can find is a projection. The 2026 notice appeared on 4 November 2025; the announcement has landed in early November in recent years.
What is fixed is the lunar arithmetic. In 2027 Chinese New Year's Day falls on 6 February, the Dragon Boat Festival on 9 June, and the Mid-Autumn Festival on 15 September. What is not fixed is how many days off each gets and which weekends are moved — and that is precisely what determines your trip.
The disagreement between published projections is easy to demonstrate. For Chinese New Year 2027, some sources show 4–12 February and others 5–11 February. For the Dragon Boat Festival, some show a single day on 9 June and others a three-day block from 7 to 9 June. The same split appears for Mid-Autumn. These are not minor edits — a one-day holiday and a three-day holiday produce completely different transport conditions.
Our advice for 2027 planning: treat 1–3 January, 1–5 May and 1–7 October as near-certain (they are fixed-date holidays that have been stable for years), pencil in early February for Spring Festival, and re-check the lunar holidays after the official notice appears.
Which holidays actually affect your trip?
Only two of the seven will genuinely reshape an itinerary. The rest change how crowded you are, not whether your plans survive. We score each holiday across the five things that actually reach a visitor.
| Holiday | Crowds | Transport strain | Closure risk | Price pressure | Cultural payoff | Net impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Festival | ●●●●● | ●●●●● | ●●●●● | ●●●● | ●●●●● | Extreme |
| National Day | ●●●●● | ●●●●● | ●● | ●●●●● | ●● | Extreme |
| Labour Day | ●●●● | ●●●● | ● | ●●●● | ● | High |
| Qingming | ●●● | ●●● | ● | ●● | ●● | Moderate |
| Dragon Boat | ●●● | ●●● | ● | ●● | ●●●● | Moderate |
| Mid-Autumn | ●●● | ●●● | ● | ●● | ●●●● | Moderate |
| New Year's Day | ●● | ●● | ● | ●● | ●● | Low |
The current version of this table lives in the original guide.
The distinction that matters most is not size — it is direction. Spring Festival is the country going home and closing up. National Day is the country going out and filling up. During Spring Festival your problem is finding an open restaurant in an emptied-out city centre; during National Day your problem is that everything is open and everyone is already inside it. They demand opposite strategies, which is why treating "Golden Week" as one phenomenon leads people astray.
Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn are the two where the cultural payoff can outweigh the friction — dragon boat racing and lantern displays are things you cannot see on an ordinary Tuesday. We generally keep clients in China through those and route them away from the two Golden Weeks. For a closer look at the October block, see our Golden Week guide; for the two lunar celebrations, see our guides to Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
What closes — and what doesn't
Tourist attractions stay open during public holidays; the things that close are banks, government offices and, during Spring Festival, a large share of independent restaurants and shops. The pattern is consistent enough to plan around.
| Category | During most holidays | During Spring Festival |
|---|---|---|
| Major attractions and museums | Open, often with extended hours | Open, but some close on the first day or two |
| Banks and currency exchange | Closed; ATMs and mobile payment unaffected | Closed for several days |
| Government and visa offices | Closed | Closed |
| Chain restaurants, malls, supermarkets | Open | Mostly open, reduced hours |
| Independent restaurants and small shops | Open | Many close, some for the full period |
| Metro, buses, taxis, ride-hailing | Running, often extended | Running on holiday timetables |
| Intercity trains and flights | Running at capacity | Running at capacity |
The current version of this table lives in the original guide.
The practical points: carry a working mobile payment setup, because a closed bank stops mattering the moment your phone works. And if your trip lands inside Spring Festival, book restaurants ahead rather than assuming you will find somewhere — that is the single failure mode we see most often.
How far ahead can you actually book?
Not as far as you think. China Railway's 12306 platform releases tickets 15 days before departure, so no one — including us — can lock in a high-speed train earlier than that. Advice to "book well in advance" is imported from Europe and does not survive contact with the Chinese rail system.
| What you're booking | Real lead time | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| High-speed train tickets | Maximum 15 days | Set an alarm for the release day. Popular corridors sell out fast on holiday departure days |
| Domestic flights | 1–3 months | Not subject to the 15-day rule; holiday fares rise sharply |
| Hotels | 1–2 months | In Golden Week the problem is availability before it is price |
| Attractions requiring reservation | Days ahead in peak season | The Palace Museum, for instance, requires an advance booking and has no on-site ticket window — arriving without one means not entering |
The current version of this table lives in the original guide.
So the correct sequence is the reverse of the instinctive one: lock hotels and flights early, because they have no release window, then treat train tickets as a timed event 15 days out. Chunyun — the Spring Festival travel rush, which China Railway dated from 2 February in 2026 — is the one period where even that discipline may not be enough, and a domestic flight or an intercity coach becomes the more reliable option.
Holiday by holiday: what to expect
New Year's Day (1–3 January). The mildest of the seven. Light shows and fireworks in major cities; a normal trip barely notices it.
Spring Festival (15–23 February 2026). Nine days, and the only holiday that changes the character of a city rather than its crowd level. Cities empty of migrant workers, family life moves indoors, and street-level commerce thins out. Either come specifically for it — temple fairs, lantern displays, decorations everywhere — or stay well clear.
Qingming (4–6 April). Tomb-sweeping is a private family observance, so there is little for a visitor to watch. What it does produce is a short-trip surge that strains intercity transport for three days.
Labour Day (1–5 May). Five days in the best weather of the year, which makes it function like a second National Day at popular sites. Frequently underestimated by visitors who have only been warned about October.
Dragon Boat Festival (19–21 June). Genuinely worth being present for. Racing takes place across southern China, and the food traditions are visible in every market. Moderate friction, high payoff.
Mid-Autumn Festival (25–27 September). Mooncakes, lantern displays and evening gatherings. Like Dragon Boat, one of the holidays where being in China is a bonus rather than a cost.
National Day (1–7 October). The single busiest travel week of the Chinese year, and unlike Spring Festival it offers little in return — no distinctive tradition to witness, just full trains and full sites. If your dates are movable, move them.
Frequently asked questions
How many public holidays does China have?
Seven: New Year's Day, Spring Festival, Qingming, Labour Day, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. Together they provide 13 statutory days off, a figure raised from 11 by the 2024 revision of China's holiday regulations, effective 2025.
What is a make-up workday, and why does China have them?
To create long holidays, China converts nearby Saturdays or Sundays into working days. The 2024 regulation caps consecutive working days around a statutory holiday at six, so extending a break is offset with weekends. There are six such days in 2026.
Is China closed during Chinese New Year?
Not in the way visitors expect. Attractions, museums and transport keep running. Banks and government offices close, and many independent restaurants and small shops shut — sometimes for the whole period. Chains, malls and mobile payment continue working normally.
Are shops open during Chinese public holidays?
Outside Spring Festival, yes — shopping malls, chain stores and supermarkets often extend their hours because domestic tourists are out spending. Only Spring Festival produces widespread closures among small, family-run businesses.
How far in advance can I book Chinese high-speed train tickets?
Fifteen days. China Railway's 12306 platform releases seats 15 days before departure and sells until 30 minutes before the train leaves. No agent or third party can obtain them sooner, so plan around the release date rather than booking early.
Do museums and attractions close on public holidays?
Generally the opposite — most major sites stay open and some extend hours to absorb domestic visitors. The real constraint is reservations: sites such as the Palace Museum require advance online booking and sell out in peak periods, with no on-site ticket counter.
When will China's 2027 public holidays be confirmed?
The State Council's General Office typically publishes the following year's arrangement in early November; the 2026 schedule appeared on 4 November 2025. Until then, all 2027 tables are projections, and published versions currently disagree on both dates and durations.
Which Chinese holiday should I avoid most?
National Day, 1–7 October. It combines maximum crowds, maximum transport strain and maximum prices with no distinctive tradition for a visitor to observe. Spring Festival is equally intense but at least offers something you cannot see at any other time of year.
The short version
Seven holidays, 13 statutory days, and only two of them — Spring Festival in February and National Day in October — are big enough to redraw an itinerary. Around each sits a layer of machinery worth knowing: weekends converted into workdays, a 15-day ceiling on train tickets, and a 2027 calendar that nobody can confirm yet.
If you are choosing dates rather than checking them, our guide to when not to visit China works through the trade-offs season by season, and our month-by-month weather guide covers the other half of the timing question. And if your dates are already fixed and they happen to land on a Golden Week, that is a solvable problem — it just needs the itinerary built backwards from the crowds rather than forwards from the sights.
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