The traditional Chinese holidays are an essential part of harvests or prayer offerings. The most important Chinese holiday is the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival), which is also celebrated in overseas ethnic Chinese communities (for example in Malaysia, Thailand, or the USA). Traditional holidays are varied from region to region but most are scheduled according to the Chinese calendar; exceptions, like the Qingming and winter solstice days, fall on the respective jieqi (solar terms) in the agricultural calendar.
Four Traditional Festivals
China's four recognized festivals are the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Qingming Festival.
List
{| class="wikitable"
!width=20% colspan=2| Chinese lunar date
!width=20% rowspan=2| Gregorian date
!width=25% rowspan=2| English name
!width=10% rowspan=2| Chinese name
!width=45% rowspan=2| Remarks
|-
!width=10%| Month
!width=10%| Day
|-
|1 ()
|1st
|<!--Weiya-->
|Chinese New Year (Spring Festival)
| / <br/> / <br/>
|Set off fireworks after midnight; visit family members
|-
|1 ()
|7th
|
|Renri
|
|
|-
|-
|1 ()
|15th
|
|Lantern Festival
| /
|Lantern parade and lion dance celebrating the first full moon. Eating tangyuan. This day is also the last day of new year celebration. This is Tourism Day in Taiwan
|-
|2 ()
|2nd
|
|Zhonghe Festival (Blue Dragon Festival)
| / <br/> /
|Eat Chinese pancakes (Chun bing, ) and noodles, clean the house. Also known as Dragon Raising its Head This is Earth God's Birthday in Taiwan
|-
<!--02-19 Guanyin's Birthday-->
|-
| colspan="2" |At the Qingming solar term, solar longitude of 15°, 104th day after Dongzhi (winter solstice)
|<!---->5 April 2026
|Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Festival, Tomb Sweeping Day, Clear and Bright Festival)
| /
|Visit, clean, and make offerings at ancestral gravesites, spring outing
|-
| colspan="2" |105th day after Dongzhi
|<!---->6 April 2026
|Cold Food Festival (Hanshi Festival)
|寒食节
|
|-
|rowspan=2|3 ()
|rowspan=2|3rd
|rowspan=2|
|Shangsi Festival
| /
|Traditional Chinese Women's Day, also known as / (fùnǚjié) or Double Third Festival.
|-
|Sam Nyied Sam
|
|Celebrated by the Zhuang people, an ethnic minority.
|-
|3 ()
|15th
|
|God of Medicine's Birthday
|
|Public holiday in Taiwan
|-
|3 ()
|23rd
|
|Matsu's Birthday (Tin Hau Festival)
|
|Public holiday in Taiwan
|-
|4 ()
|8th
|
|Buddha's Birthday
| /
|Visit Buddhist temple, offer food to the monks
|-
|4 ()
|8th
|
|Cheung Chau Bun Festival
|/
|
|-
|5 ()
|5th
|
|Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival)
| /
|Dragon boat race, eat sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves Zongzi (粽子). This festival commemorates the ancient poet Qu Yuan; drink yellow rice wine, related to the White Snake Lady legend
|-
|5 ()
|13th
|
|Kuan Kung's Birthday and Cheng Huang's Birthday
|
|Celebrated in Taiwan
|-
|6 ()
|6th
|
|Double Sixth Festival
| /
|
|-
|6 ()
|24th or 25th
|
|Torch Festival
|
|
|-
|7 ()
|7th
|
|Qixi Festival (The Night of Sevens, Magpie Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day)
|
|According to legend, the goddess "Zhi Nü" (the star Vega) fell in love with the farmer boy "Niu Lang" (the star Altair), but was disapproved by her mother goddess. As punishment, they were separated by the Milky Way and could only meet once a year on this night.
|-
|7 ()
|15th night (14th in parts of southern China)
|<!--Obon-->
|Ghost Festival
| /
|Burn fake paper money and make offerings to ancestors and the dead to comfort them in the afterlife and keep them from troubling the living.
|-
|8 ()
|15th
|<!--Chuseok; Tsukimi-->
|Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival)
| /
|Eat mooncake, family union meal, related to the legend of Chang E, the Jade Rabbit and The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, also called "Chinese Thanksgiving".
|-
|8 ()
|16th
|
|Monkey King Festival
|
|
|-
|8 ()
|26th
|
|Food Extermination Day
|
|Commemorate when Nurhaci's troops ran out of food, Northeast China specific
|-
|colspan=2|Eve of the 9th month (九月); goes on for nine days
|
|Nine Emperor Gods Festival
|
|
|-
|9 ()
|9th
|
|Double Ninth Festival (Chongyang Festival)
| /
|Autumn outing and mountain climbing, some Chinese also visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects.
|-
|10 ()
|1st
|
|Winter Clothes Festival
|
|
|-
|10 ()
|15th
|
|Saisiat Festival
|賽夏節
|Pas-taai Festival of the Saisiat tribe in Taiwan
|-
|colspan=2|At the Dongzhi solar term, solar longitude of 270°, the day of winter solstice
|
|Dongzhi Festival (Winter Solstice Festival)
|
|Have Tangyuan and Jiuniang and perform ancestor worship, Feast day, family gatherings, also named "Chinese Thanksgiving"
|-
|12 ()
|8th
|
|Laba Festival
| /
|This is the day the Buddha attained enlightenment. People usually eat Laba congee, which is made of mixed grains and fruits. Beginning of the preparation for Chinese new year.
|-
|12 ()
|23rd/24th
|
|Little New Year
|
|Honoring of Kitchen God
|-
|colspan=2|Last day of lunar year
|
|Chinese New Year's Eve
| <br/>
|
|}
Public holidays
Traditional holidays are generally celebrated in Chinese-speaking regions. For the most part however, only Chinese New Year, Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are statutory public holidays. This is the case in both mainland China and Taiwan whilst Hong Kong and Macau also observe Buddha's Birthday and Chung Yeung Festival. In Singapore, Chinese New Year is the only traditional Chinese public holiday, likewise with Malaysia, Indonesia & Brunei as well as Mauritius.
Each region has its own holidays on top of this condensed traditional Chinese set. Mainland China and Taiwan observe patriotic holidays, Hong Kong and Macau observe Christian holidays, and Malaysia and Singapore celebrate Malay and Indian festivals.
- Public holidays in the People's Republic of China
- Public holidays in Hong Kong
- Public holidays in Macau
- Public holidays in the Republic of China
- Public holidays in Taiwan (including unofficial holidays)
- Public holidays in Singapore
- Public holidays in Malaysia
- Public holidays in Indonesia
- Public holidays in Brunei
- Public holidays in Mauritius
- List of festivals in China
See also
- Jingchu Suishiji, an important text on the transition from ancient Chinese festivals to the present traditional ones
- Air pollution in China | Air pollution in Hong Kong | Air pollution in Macau | Air pollution in Taiwan | Air pollution in Singapore
- Culture of China
- List of annual events in China
- Joss paper
References
External links
- Traditional Chinese festivals on china.org.cn