The traditional Chinese holidays are an essential part of harvests or prayer offerings. The most important Chinese holiday is the
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...
(Spring Festival), which is also celebrated in overseas ethnic Chinese communities (for example in Malaysia, Thailand or the USA).
Traditional holidays are varied from region to region but all scheduled according to the
Chinese calendar
The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar 曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar 曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar 曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar ...
(except the Qing Ming and Winter Solstice days, falling on the respective ''Jie qi'' in the Agricultural calendar).
Public holidays
Traditional holidays are generally celebrated in Chinese-speaking regions. For the most part however, only
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...
,
Qingming Festival
The Qingming festival or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors' Day), is a traditional Chinese festival observed by the Han Chinese of mainland China, Hong Ko ...
, the
Dragon Boat Festival and
Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival (Chinese: / ), also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated in Chinese culture. Similar holidays are celebrated in Japan (), Korea (), Vietnam (), and other countries in Eas ...
are statutory public holidays. This is the case in both mainland China and Taiwan whilst Hong Kong and Macau also observe
Buddha's Birthday and
Chung Yeung Festival. In Singapore, Chinese New Year is the only traditional Chinese public holiday, likewise with
Malaysia.
Each region has its own holidays on top of this condensed traditional Chinese set. Mainland China and Taiwan observe patriotic holidays, Hong Kong and Macau observe Christian holidays, and Malaysia and Singapore celebrate Malay and Indian festivals.
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Public holidays in the People's Republic of China
There are currently seven official public holidays in mainland China. Each year's holidays are announced about three weeks before the start of the year by the General Office of the State Council. A notable feature of mainland Chinese holidays is t ...
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Holidays in Hong Kong
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Holidays in Macau
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Public holidays in the Republic of China
The following are considered holidays in Taiwan. Some are official holidays, some are not:
Table of Taiwan holidays
Public holidays
Unofficial holidays
The following holidays are also observed on Taiwan, but are not official holidays obser ...
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Holidays in Taiwan (including unofficial holidays)
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Holidays in Singapore
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Holidays in Malaysia
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List of festivals in China
See also
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Jingchu Suishiji
The ''Jingchu Suishiji'', also known by various English translations, is a description of holidays in central China during the 6th and 7th centuries. It was compiled by Du Gongzhan in the Sui or early Tang (early 7th century) as a revised, ann ...
'', an important text on the transition from ancient Chinese festivals to the present traditional ones
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Culture of China
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List of annual events in China
References
External links
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raditional Chinese festivalson china.org.cn
{{Portal bar, China, Holidays
Chinese culture
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Public holidays in China
Traditional holidays