China is a major regional power within Asia and is the world’s most populous country, with a population of 1.35 billion people. As well as the mainland, China includes the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau and it claims sovereignty over Taiwan. Since introducing economic reforms in 1978 it has become one of the world’s fastest growing economies and as of 2014 is the world’s second largest economy by nominal total GDP. China is the world’s second largest country by land area and its vast area includes vast mountain ranges, forest steppes, deserts in the arid north and subtropical forests in the south.

China - 2017 Holidays & Observances

New Year’s Eve

Besides Lunar New Year (which is the greatest holiday of China), Chinese also celebrate Western New Year’s Day like many countries in the world. Nowadays, more and more Chinese people stay up until midnight to drink a toast in countdown parties, say good bye to the old year and welcome the new year. However, you will not see lion dancing and firewo

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is the most important and longest holidays in China. It has more than 4.000 years of history. This festival starts on the first day of Chinese lunar calendar and lasts for 15 days.

Qingming Festival

Qing Ming, otherwise known as Tomb Sweeping Day or All Soul Day, is a traditional holiday for thousand years. Qing Ming has been regularly observed as a statuory public holiday. This is the time when Chinese visit the graves or burial grounds of their ancestors. They will clean the graves and pray as a way to show their respect to the deaths

May Day

This holiday is international. It was once one of three “Golden holidays” in China, along with Chinese New Year and National Day. China government make it a tourism holiday, by giving 3 days off. There are some cities which are for tourists on this holidays such as: Yunnan, Hong Kong, …

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional holiday that commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan (Chu Yuan). The festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Along with Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival is an important and special holiday in China. When this festival comes every people go home from every corner of the country and the world to visit their families and eat traditional foods together. In China, during this time, there are lantern festivals held all over the country which make China’s

National Day

National Day is celebrated on October 1st every year to commemorate the founding of the People’s Republic of China (October 1st, 1949). On this day, a number of large-scaled activities are held nationwide. The seven-day holiday from Oct. 1st to 7th is the so-called "Golden Week”, during which many Chinese people travel domestically as well as int