China Public Holiday 2023 Schedule

The final week-long public holiday arrangement for 2023 is approaching. Have you commenced your preparations for ensuring business continuity during this period? This year, the National Day holiday spans from September 29 to October 6, overlapping with the Mid-Autumn Festival. To partially offset the seven consecutive days of the National Day holiday, October 7 and Sunday, October 8, have been designated as official workdays, resulting in a 7-day working week. It is advisable for companies to proactively plan their work arrangements for this extended break, especially if they have clients who do not share the same holiday calendar.

The State Council released the official China public holiday 2023 schedule through its Circular of the General Office of the State Council on the Arrangement of Public Holidays in 2023 (see here for the official source) on December 9, 2022.

As is traditional, the holiday schedule features two major week-long holidays (often referred to as ‘Golden Week’): Spring Festival (also known as Chinese New Year) and the National Day holiday.

In 2023, Spring Festival falls between January 21 and January 27, and the National Day holiday falls between September 29 and October 6, with the Mid-Autumn Festival happening during the same period.

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Foreign human resource managers should note that Saturdays and Sundays are often marked as additional official workdays in China to compensate for long holiday breaks.

For example, in 2023, Saturday, January 28 and Sunday, January 29, are designated as official workdays to partially offset the seven days off for Spring Festival, and Saturday, October 7 and Sunday, October 8, are designated as official workdays to partially offset the seven days off for the National Day holiday, resulting two 7-day working days weeks.

Private companies in China, however, have the right to determine their own schedules – that is, allow for additional days off – so long as the official holiday calendar is maintained.

Official China public holiday 2023 schedule

New Year

• December 31, 2022 to January 2, 2023 (three days in total;  Saturday to Monday)

Spring Festival (Chinese New Year)

• January 21 to 27, 2023 (seven days in total; Saturday to Friday)
• Adjusted working days: January 28, 2023 (Saturday) and January 29, 2023 (Sunday)

Tomb Sweeping Festival (Ching Ming Festival)

• April 5, 2023 (one day in total; Wednesday)

Labor Day

• April 29 to May 3, 2023 (five days in total; Saturday to Wednesday)
• Adjusted working days: April 23, 2023 (Sunday) and May 6, 2023 (Saturday)

Dragon Boat Festival

• June 22 to 24, 2023 (three days in total; Thursday to Saturday)
• Adjusted working days: June 25, 2023 (Sunday)

Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day

• September 29 to October 6, 2023 (eight days in total; Friday to Friday)
• Adjusted working days: October 7, 2023 (Saturday) and October 8, 2023 (Sunday)

(This article was first published in December 2022 and was last updated in August 2023.)

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China Public Holiday 2022 Schedule

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