Major Chinese festivals — overview

The big six

Spring Festival (Chinese New Year, 春节) Late January or February (lunar new year). The biggest holiday of the year. Officially 7 days; effectively 15 days of slowdown. Family reunions, fireworks (where permitted), red envelopes, dumplings in the north and rice cakes in the south. Travel volumes are extreme — the largest annual human migration. Many shops in tier-3 cities close for a week.

Lantern Festival (元宵节) 15th day of the lunar new year (typically February or early March). Marks the end of Spring Festival celebrations. Lanterns lit; sweet glutinous-rice ball soup (汤圆) eaten.

Qingming (清明节, Tomb-Sweeping Day) Around 4–6 April. Three-day public holiday. Families visit ancestral graves to clean and burn paper offerings. Spring is in the air; many travellers also use the long weekend for tourism.

Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) 5th day of the 5th lunar month (typically late May or June). Three-day public holiday. Commemorates the poet Qu Yuan; sticky-rice dumplings (zongzi) eaten; dragon boat races held on rivers. The Hong Kong Dragon Boat carnival is a particular spectacle.

Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) 15th day of the 8th lunar month (typically September). One-day public holiday, often paired with the Golden Week immediately after. Mooncakes given as gifts; full-moon viewing; Chang'e (the moon goddess) story is central.

National Day Golden Week (国庆节) 1 October, with a 7-day national holiday. Founded the People's Republic in 1949. Tiananmen flag-raising is the signature event. Domestic tourism volumes are the largest of the year.

Travel impact

• Spring Festival week and Golden Week are the worst times to travel for sightseeing — every major attraction is packed and rail/flight tickets sell out.
• Qingming, Labour Day (1–3 May), Mid-Autumn also see domestic-tourism surges but are manageable with advance booking.

Other observances

• International Women's Day (8 March) — half-day off for women in many workplaces.
• Labour Day (1–3 May, extended to 5 days since 2019).
• Children's Day (1 June).
• Teachers' Day (10 September).
• Hong Kong: HK Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (1 July), Buddha's Birthday, Christmas — separate from the mainland calendar.

Regional festivals

• Naadam Festival — Mongolian, late July, Hohhot. Wrestling, horse racing, archery.
• Torch Festival — Yi minority, late July or early August, Yunnan.
• Tibetan New Year (Losar) — different from Han New Year; usually a week later.
• Yi minority Torch Festival — Stone Forest area, Yunnan.
• Mawei Sanyuesan — Hui minority, mid-March, Ningxia.