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Source: Xinhua (Guangzhou)
China's Central Government has approved a pilot plan by the provincial government of Guangdong to restore the May Golden week public holidays. This pilot project would be limited to Guangdong Province.
As we first reported last month (01-Jan-2009), the pilot plan was proposed by Governor, Huang Huahua to boost tourism and stimulate domestic consumption amid the financial crisis.
What still remains uncertain is which 7 days will be declared as Golden Week. The usual historical preference in China, in the past, was to start on the date of May 1st and go until May 7. However, in 2009, May 1st falls on a Friday, and we thus would expect the provincial Golden Week public holiday to run from Monday, April 27, until Sunday, May 3rd, to coincide with the nationwide May public holidays (10-Dec-2008). As per custom we would then expect Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26, to be declared regular working days in the province of Guangdong, to compensate the extended days of public holidays.
The May golden week public holidays were abandoned in a revision of the list of official China public holidays which took effect in early 2008 (17-Dec-2007).
In what seems to be a move by China's government to experiment the concept of regional public holidays, a week-long regional public holiday was recently declared in the Tibet Autonomous Region (20-Feb-2009).
Related links:
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China 2012 bank holidays and public holidays (current year)
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China 2013 bank holidays and public holidays (next year)
• China bank holidays and public holidays (news and updates)
• Worldwide
bank holidays and public holidays news updates (February 2009)
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China Approves May Golden Week Public Holidays In Guangdong Province