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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for China

The list of China bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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16 Jul 2008 (AFP) A notice on the Beijing government website announced that Beijing companies have been ordered to stagger or shorten working hours, starting on July 20th, to cut pollution and traffic gridlock for the upcoming Olympic Games. Other measures recommended by the government are allowing staff to work from home and allowing staff to take annual leave during the Olympics. • 22 May 2008 (Shanghai Daily) The State Council of China has declared Monday June 9, 2008, the day after the Dragon Boat Festival, as an additional public holiday, making the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival a 3-day public holiday. • 11 Mar 2008 (Agencia Digital de Noticias) The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is currently considering a proposal by political advisor Mao Yulin to make August 8 (the date of the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing) an annual public holiday called Sports Day. • 17 Dec 2007 (Government of China) Earlier today, the Chinese government made official its draft plan of November 9, to overhaul its public holidays system, without any amendments. • 10 Dec 2007 (CCTV) Yesterday, the State Council of China approved the November 9 draft plan to overhaul the national public holidays system in China. • 17 Nov 2007 (Xinhua and China Daily) After a week of online polling, the final results have been released, showing a general approval rating of 60 percent for the proposed overhaul of China's public holidays system. The change thus seems almost certain of coming into being, starting in 2008, one uncertainty being whether the Mid-Autumn Festival public holiday will be on the day of the festival, or the day after (as is the case in Hong Kong). • 09 Nov 2007 (China Daily) Earlier today, the Chinese Government released a draft plan on the Internet in order to solicit public opinion on its long-awaited public holidays overhaul. Some of the highlights: The total number of legal holidays will increase from 10 days to 11 days. The Spring Festival would begin on the eve of the Lunar New Year, rather than on the day itself. The three-day May Day public holiday is reduced to one day. Three new one-day public holidays are created for Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon-Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Golden Weeks will be maintained for the Spring Festival and the National Day public holiday, by working the entire weekend previous to each of these holidays. The government is hoping that the plan could come into effect in time for the 2008 Spring Festival. • 01 Jul 2007 (Xinhua) China's government may scrap up its "golden week" public holiday system and make more traditional festivals into full public holidays by 2009. The May Day public holiday and the October National Day public holiday would both be shortened in exchange for the addition of new public holidays on 3 of the traditional Chinese festivals. • 12 May 2007 (Q + + Studio Research) We have posted a lengthy analysis on China's Golden Week public holidays and their prospects. • More News Updates For up-to-the-minute news about public holidays trends and changes, visit our public holidays news and updates pages, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Public Holidays Extensions: To achieve week-long public holidays around Lunar New Year and October 1st, and 3-day public holidays for other holidays, it is customary to make one or both of the weekend days of a nearby weekend into working days. • In addition to the list of official national public holidays, listed above, there are partial holidays for particular groups of people. Business meetings may or may not be affected. • March 8: Women's Day: All women get a half day off. • May 4: Youth Day: All persons 14-20 get a half day off. • June 1: Children's Day: All children 13 and under get a full day off school. • August 1: Army Day: Special procedures for the department of national defense for all armed forces personnel. • Golden Weeks: it is customary for people to work some weekends either before or after the official holiday time in order to make some of the official holidays into an entire week off from work called Golden Weeks. These Golden Weeks used to be centered around the Lunar New Year, May Day and October 1st public holidays, but the May Golden Week was dropped at the end of 2007. • Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve was made into a public holiday (the first day of the Lunar New Year Golden Week) at the end of 2007. • Workweek: offices and agencies in China follow the five workdays per week system. Since 2005, factories have to, at least, give the Sundays off to their workers. • Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Although the listed start of the Beijing 2008 Olympics is August 8th, the first day of events is August 6th. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: The People's Bank of China (China central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in China, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for China, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of China, before planning any trip to China. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our public holidays news and updates pages, or subscribe to our free email newsletters.