The General Office of the State Council has approved the plan for the 2021 public holidays in China.
The specific arrangements for the date of the 2021 New Year’s Day, Spring Festival, Ching Ming Festival, Labor Day, Dragon Boat Festival, National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday are as follows:
New Year’s Day is a one-day holiday on Friday January 1st 2021.
February brings the most important family holiday, the Spring Festival. In 2021, the start of the Year of the Ox will be a holiday from February 11 to February 17, a total of 7 days. The extra holidays will be compensated by work on Sunday February 7th and Saturday February 20th.
We jump to April for the Ching Ming (Tomb-Sweeping) Festival with three days of holidays from April 3rd to 5th.
The important holiday for Labour Day falls on Saturday May 1st 2021 and in addition to the in lieu holiday on Monday May 3rd, extra holidays will be observed on May 4th and 5th. These will be compensated by working days on Sunday April 25th and Saturday May 8th.
The Dragon Boat Festival holiday will run from June 12th to 14th.
As Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Tuesday September 21st, the Monday will be a public holiday compensated by a working day on Saturday September 18th.
The 2021 holidays close with a bumper break for National Day with the holidays starting on October 1st and lasting until October 7th. Two of the holidays will be compensated by working days on Sunday September 26th and Saturday October 9th.
Foreign human resource managers should note that Saturdays and Sundays are often marked as additional official work-days in China to compensate for long holiday breaks.
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.
