Update: 2010’s Chinese public holiday schedule has been announced.
CCTV 1 News Broadcast announced public holiday schedule (Chinese version here) for 2009 today. Many CNReviews visitors find the 2008 version very helpful. Here is the 2009 version.
2009-china-public-holidays
Key holidays (including both public holidays and “off” days) in the above image:
- New Year – Jan 1-3
- Chinese New Year – Jan 25-31
- Qingming Holiday – Apr 4-6
- Labor’s Day – May 1-3
- Duanwu Holiday – May 28-30
- National Day – Oct 1-8
Public holidays in 2009 are “concentrated” into 3 months: Jan, May and Oct. There are two public holidays in each of these months. 2009 Chinese New Year (Spring festival) comes early on Jan 26 (年初一) and it is the Year of Ox. We have a special new year greeting mixing English with Chinese: Happy Niu (牛) Year this time as Ox (牛) is pronounced the same as “New” in Chinese.
The table is last updated on Dec. 16 2008. Specially thanks to Lily and Martin for helping me correct it!
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Update: 2010’s Chinese public holiday schedule has been announced. Happy Labor Day! I remember I stayed at home (Shanghai) for 7 days watching all the Desperate...
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2010 China public holiday schedule was announced last week. There will be in total 11 public holidays excluding Saturday and Sunday in 2010, same as last year. ...
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I love the new public holiday calendar started in 2008 which we have a few more 3-day long weekends. June 8 2008 is the first time we will celebrate Duanwu Festival...
China Public Holidays 2008 : Plan Your Trip to/in China 
2010 China Public Holiday Schedule 
Chinese Elitist: Only tone deaf foreigners would pronounce “niu” like “new!” *rage on*
* New Year – Jan 1-3
* Chinese New Year – Jan 25-31
* Qingming Holiday – Apr 4-6
* Labor’s Day – May 1-3
* Duanwu Holiday – May 28-30
* National Day – Oct 1-8
This is the correct one.
one mistake: Jan 24 should also be workday.
Oops… Thank you Lily! The table is updated.
I am writing a book and would like to include your site as a reference for public holidays for 2009 and beyond. Will you be doing this every year? If so, is their a specific link or category visitors should be directed? If not, I will link from my website.
Brian
Why do you think Sunday 11 October is a working day? From my reading of the Chinese source article it doesn’t mention any change so that should be a normal weekend rest day.
Hey Martin, you are right. The table is updated. Thank you for the correction.
i think either oct 11 or sept 26 needs to be working day otherwise the compensation system doesnt add up. i cant read the chinese article so can you confirm if this is correct or not
Was really strange for me to see ‘duanwu holiday’. -wry- I’ve always known it as the Dragon Boat Festival..
Anyway, reading that article is really strange. ._. The calendar is right, as far as I see…it says working days are 10th Oct and 27th Sep.
Happy Niu (牛) Year this time as Ox (牛) is pronounced the same as “New” in Chinese. I hear this saying for the first time , it’s very intereting.
So exactly which is the correct set of 2009 PH for China?
I hate how Saturdays and Sundays are used as holidays and how Saturdays and Sundays are used as ‘make-up’ days. It feels like a punishment for having a holiday on a weekday when someone has to go to work on a weekend day! Stupid!
i hate it too bert! sometimes i end up with more work because of the holiday!
also, as for “niu”, no it deosn’t sound much like “new”, but nonetheless there are lots of signs round here in guangdong shouting “Happy 牛 Year!” i think it’s close enough.
Very useful guide thanks..I like Happy Niu year comment as well.
Hi Min,
When does the 2010 schedule come out?
Brian
Brian,
Usually it comes out in Dec. I think it will be the same this year.
We will visis China and Shanghai in the end of September and beginning of October. What about the opening times for the shops during National day and Mid Autum festival?
Thanks in advance
Monica
Hey Monica, shops are typically open normal hours during the holidays. Gotta make all that money from the domestic and foreign tourists and travelers! They might even have special sales!
Planning to visit Beijing with my kids form Oct 1 until Oct 8 2009.
Do all atractions operate normaly ? Is anything close these dates ?
Is it a bad time for first visit to Beijing ?
Tourist attractions and shopping tend to be enthusiastically open during national holidays to serve both foreign and especially domestic tourists. You should be fine for the most part. You’ll probably run into throngs of domestic tourists visiting Beijing but other than the possibility of above-average crowds, no real reason to say it is a bad time for a first visit.
Is all of China closed from 1st- 8th October. We are planning sales trip. Will all the factorys be closed in Shanghai?.
Factories are likely to be closed unless you have some sort of appointment scheduled. Even then, most line workers are off for the mandatory holiday. If you’re doing sales, I imagine the people you’re looking to see are managers, not line workers, but even then, they’re probably not working during this time if you’re planning to “drop in”.