Festivals and Holidays

China’s holidays serve a number of purposes. Many traditional holidays have an emphasis on family reunions and Chinese people place a big emphasis on celebrating holidays with loved ones. Big holidays allow workers and students to take time off and smaller holidays might call for more minor celebrations.

China’s traditional calendar is a based on the phases of the moon. This means that holidays do not fall on the same date from year to year. There are slight changes as to when a holiday will occur and so it’s necessary to look up each holiday each year.


Spring Festival (January or February)

The Spring Festival (chunjie) is also known in English as the Chinese New Year, though many different cultures celebrate a similar holiday. The Spring Festival marks the beginning of a new year according to China’s lunar calendar. The festival lasts for 15 days and everyone that is able to returns home to spend time with relatives.

The holiday includes an array of different customs, including firecrackers and eating meat dumplings called jiaozi. One of the most important customs is the bainian: friends, family members and neighbors visit one another and offer their wishes for a happy new year. Red envelopes full of money are given to children as gifts.


Qingming Festival (early April)

Sometimes called “Tomb Sweeping Day” or “Clear Brightness Festival,” Qingming Festival is a day to honor the dead. Relatives of the deceased make trips to tombs to burn incense and offer gifts of tea, wine and paper ornaments. The holiday is especially important in rural areas where graveyards might be very close to villages; farmers sometimes place willow branches on gates and doors to ward off evil spirits.

In addition to honouring ancestors, families often go on outings on Qingming Festival. In traditional areas, singing, dancing and courtship rituals are all carried out during this holiday as well. Recently established as an official holiday on the mainland, it has long been observed both in China and in overseas Chinese communities.


Dragon Boat Festival (May or June)

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the death of the poet Qu Yuan from the Warring States Period in the 3rd century BC. According to legend, Qu Yuan was an advisor to the king of the state of Chu. When the king of Chu was approached by the state of Qin to establish an alliance, Qu Yuan suspected them of treachery and advised his king against it. The king of Chu disagreed, allied with Qin, and exiled Qu Yuan, accusing him of treason. While in exile, the king of Qin betrayed the kingdom of Chu and conquered it. Qu Yuan fell into despair and drowned himself in a river.

On this holiday, Chinese people race boats in the shapes of dragons and eat a sticky rice and meat snack wrapped in bamboo leaves called zongzi. It’s said that after Qu Yuan jumped in the river, locals searched the river desperately for him in dragon boats and fed the fish zongzi to prevent them from eating his body. Modern day Chinese celebrate the holiday by reenacting this story.


Mid-Autumn Festival (mid-late September)

Mid-Autumn Festival is the most important Chinese holiday after the Spring Festival. Celebrated for thousands of years, this holiday is a celebration of the harvest and is observed when the moon is at its fullest. Family members gather together to eat moon cakes (a type of sweet pastry),

Family is the most important aspect of Mid-Autumn Festival. Those that are able rush home to spend time with their family during this time of year. Those that aren’t able to return home stare at the moon, knowing that their family members are looking at the same moon, thus creating a connection.


Youth Day (May 4)

Youth Day is a holiday to commemorate the May Fourth Movement, which occurred on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in Beijing to protest the government’s weak response to the Treaty of Versailles which allowed Japan to take over the Germany colony in Shandong province instead of returning it to Chinese control. This marked the beginning of serious nationalist sentiment in China and is a milestone in Chinese history.


National Day (October 1)

China’s National Day commemorates the formation of the People’s Republic of China on November 1, 1949. Fireworks are displayed in every city and other festivities like concerts are also arranged. Special anniversaries (for example, the 50th National Day) have even bigger celebrations like parades.