春节“黄金周”

There are two golden week holiday periods annually in the Chinese calendar: Spring Festival Golden Week (春节黄金周) and National Day Golden Week (国庆黄金周). The concept of the "Golden Week" (黄金周) was first introduced in 1999 as a direct response to the economic challenges posed by the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998.

Although China was not directly affected by the crisis, its economy did suffer a significant drop in exports, and there was a general slowdown in GDP growth. To find new drivers of the economy, the Chinese government turned to boosting domestic spending by creating three single blocks of 7-day long holidays from the official respective one-day statutory holidays for Spring Festival, May Day, and National Day. The idea was that by giving people a continuous week-long break, it would encourage them to travel and spend money, injecting new life into the domestic economy.

This philosophy of creating a single long block of holidays, known as ‘Tiaoxiu’ (调休), during the Golden Week, by swapping adjacent weekend days into the work week is a distinctive feature of China's holiday system. It results in a longer continuous break, but requires compensatory work on the swapped weekends.

Other countries also have similar mechanisms to create extended holiday periods. Japan's most famous long holiday is the ‘Golden Week’ (Gōruden Wīku), a natural cluster of four national holidays between late April and early May. The proximity of Showa Day (April 29), Constitution Memorial Day (May 3), Greenery Day (May 4), and Children's Day (May 5) creates an automatic extended break for many. Schools and many companies are closed for the entire period. To create 3-day weekends, Japan introduced the "Happy Monday System" in 1998/2001, which moved several national holidays from their original fixed dates to specific Mondays; e.g., Sports Day was moved from October 10 to the second Monday of October. Japan also has two specific compensatory rules that help create longer breaks without making people work extra days. The first rule is ‘Substitute Holiday’ (振替休日). If a national holiday falls on a Sunday, the next working day (usually Monday) automatically becomes a holiday. The second rule is ‘Citizen's Holiday’ (国民の休日): Any weekday that falls between two national holidays also becomes a holiday.

South Korea uses ‘Substitute Holiday’ (대체휴일) to ensure major traditional holidays are protected and, in some cases, extended when they fall on a weekend or overlap. The most significant extended holidays are the 3-day breaks for Seollal (lunar new year) and Chuseok (autumn harvest festival). If these dates overlap with the weekend or a public holiday, they can be extended further. Under current law, if certain public holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday, a ‘Substitute Holiday" is provided on the next working day to ensure people don't lose a day off. However, not all public holidays are covered by this rule. New Year's Day (January 1) is not classified as a national holiday. Hence, even if it falls during the weekend, it does not create a long weekend. Singapore also uses the same substitute holiday, known as ‘Holiday in Lieu’, approach. The Singapore system ensures that employees don't lose a day off when a public holiday falls on a weekend, which naturally creates long weekends.

In 2008, the Chinese government reformed the holiday system for several reasons, including reducing the intense pressure on transportation systems and tourist sites caused by travellers and tourists respectively during these long holiday periods. Hence, the May Day holiday was shortened, and the days in lieu were reallocated to create statutory holidays for three traditional festivals: Qing Ming, Duanwu, and Mid-Autumn festivals. Hence, we currently have only 2 Golden Week holiday periods per year.

Please note that intense pressure on the transportation system was already present for the Spring Festival before the 1999 reforms. It is the most important traditional holiday in China, and for the Chinese to travel back to their hometowns to celebrate with family is deeply ingrained in Chinese culture. The large-scale movement of people during the Spring Festival travel rush, known as ‘Chunyun’ (春运), emerged as a major logistical event after China's economic reforms in 1978. Surplus rural workers move to cities for work. It creates an annual travel peak when millions of migrant workers return home for the Spring Festival. Although the term ‘Chunyun’ first appeared in Chinese news media in 1954, it did not become a notable phenomenon until 1979, when passenger trips during that period first exceeded 100 million! During the recent 8-day ‘Super Golden Week’ 2025, which merged National Day Golden Week and Mid-Autumn Festival, the number of passenger trips, including all forms of long-distance travel, from flights and trains to road trips, reached the figure of 24.33 billion!

The official Chinese calendar for 2026 creates two separate holidays for the above-mentioned two festivals with a gap in between, which is different from merged 8-day ‘Super Golden Week’ 2025: The Mid-Autumn Festival is from Friday, September 25 to Sunday, September 27 (3 days), and the National Day Golden Week is from Thursday, October 1 to Wednesday, October 7 (7 days). There are 3 working days from Monday, September 28, to Wednesday, September 30. Many travellers will be taking three days of annual leave to create a 13-day ‘Super Long Golden Week’! This ‘leave-stitching’ (拼假) is expected to create a new record-breaking travel rush! Therefore, plan your October holidays now!