Special Holidays in China

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

Canton Trade Fair （Apri 15-30, Oct 15-30)

Guangzhou is a great metropolis with a distinctly commercial flavor is imperative to a convention and exhibition economy. A grand gathering can not only create a platform geared to international trends, but also countless commercial opportunities.

Labor Day Holidays ( May 01 to May 07)

In European countries, China and other parts of the world, May Day, the first day in May, is a holiday to celebrate workers and labor unions. Before it became an international workers holiday, May Day was a celebration of spring and the promise of summer.

Membership in labor unions in the United States reached an all-time high in the 1950s when about 40 percent of the work force belonged to unions. Today, union membership is about 14 percent of the working population. Labor Day now carries less significance as a celebration of working people and more as the end of summer. Schools, government offices and businesses are closed on Labor Day so people can get in one last trip to the beach or have one last cookout before the weather starts to turn colder.

National Day Holidays ( October 01 to May 07)

National Day, the most important of China's official holidays. National Day marks the anniversary of the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China. National flags lined many of China's busy streets, erected by the local government and civic groups. In Beijing's Tiananmen Square, huge crowds gathered at dawn on Wednesday to catch a glimpse of the flag-raising ceremony. The night before, top party leaders celebrated on the square and looked toward China's future.

Christmas and New Year Holidays ( Dec 24 to Jan 03)

Young people from Canton, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea have been waiting for a whole year for a journey not too far off the beaten path that breakfast cereal isn´t available. In Christmas and New Year, Yangshuo turns into a big party town.