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Your Travel Guide

Beijing - China

China has numerous national holidays, as well as many ancient traditions, that are linked to current day celebrations.  The three main holidays are fixed, and are Spring Festival, Labour Day and National Holiday.

During these holidays, the majority of the population is on holiday, and the transport network is stretched to its limits.  It's best to avoid travelling in this period, as tickets for trains, plane and buses, and hotel rooms are in short supply, and prices are higher.

New Year's Day - Yuandan - (1st January), 1 day off.

Spring Festival- Chunjie - (the 1^st day of the Chinese New Year, which is in either January or February).  7 days of holiday.  This is the most important national holiday, and is the equivalent to Christmas for the Chinese.

Lantern Festival -Yuanxiaojie - (the 15^th day of the 1^st month of the Chinese New Year, in either February or March). Admire the lanterns and eat parcels of glutinous rice (tangyuan or yuanxiao in Chinese), this holidays' main custom.

Women's Day - Sanbafunvjie - (8th march).

Tomb Sweeping Festival- Qinmingjie - (between the 4^th and 6^th April). This day is dedicated to the memory of those that have died.  The Han ethnic group, as well as a number of other nationalities offer sacrifices to their ancestors, and visit their family tombs.  On this day, you aren't meant to do any cooking, and you should only eat cold food.

International Labour Day- Laodongjie - This is also called the May 1^st Holiday, and is a major week for domestic tourism.

Young Peoples' Day  - Qingnianjie - (4^th May), this day is a commemoration of the 4^th May movement.

Dragon Boat Festival – Duanwujie - (the 5^th day of the 5^th month of the Chinese Calendar, around June).  During this holiday, dragon-boat races are organized all around the country, and is accompanied by the eating of copious amounts of rice cakes and wheat porridge, and other Chinese delicacies.

International Children Day– Ertongjie - (1^st June), a special day for the children.

Day of Lovers– Qixijie -  (the 7^th day of the 7^th month of the Chinese Calendar, around August), this festival marks the celebration of the legend of the love between  the Herdsman and the Weaver.

The Festival of the Spirits of the Dead– Zhongyuanjie -  (the 15^th day of the 7^th lunar month, around August). It is believed that the spirits of the dead return to the home.

Army Day– Jianjunjie - A commemoration of the uprising in Nanchang on 8^th August 1927.

Old People's Day– Chongyanjie - the 9^th day of the 9^th lunar month, around October).

National Day – Guoqingjie - 7 days of holiday. This is the main autumn tourism week.

Mid-Autumn Festival – Zhongqiujie -  (15^th of the 8^th month, around October). This festival is all about the family.  During this festival, it is traditional for all the member of a family to sit down together and eat, to admire the full moon, and to eat moon cakes (yuebing in Chinese), and fruit.

National Holidays

2007 : 10 days of holiday

Year	Holiday	Date (YYYY.M.D)	Days	Days to make up missed time	Total leave (days)
2007	New Year (1st January), (Yuan dan)	2007.1.1	1	1 weekend	3
	Spring festival (chunjie)	2007.2.18	3	2 weekends	7
	International Labour Day	2007.5.1	3	2 weekends	7
	National Day	2007.10.1	3	2 weekends	7

2008: 10 days of holiday

Year	Holiday	Date (YYYY.M.D)	Days	Days to make up missed time	Total leave (days)
2008	New Year (1st January), (Yuan dan)	2008.1.1	1	1 weekend	3
	New Year's Eve (chuxi)	2008.2.6	1		1
	Spring Festival (chunjie)	2008.2.7	2	2 weekends	6
	Tomb Sweeping Day	2008.4.5	1	1 weekend	3
	International Labour Day	2008.5.1	1	1 weekend	3
	Dragon Boat Festival (duanwu)	2008.6.8	1	1 weekend	3
	Mid-Autumn Festival (zhongqiu)	2008.9.14	1	1 weekend	3
	La fête nationale	2008.10.1	3	2 weekends	7

School Holidays:

Students have both a summer and winter holidays in addition to the national holidays.

		Summer Holiday	Winter Holiday
Primary School		7.15 - -8.31 Mid-July to Late-AugustApproximately 6 weeks holiday, with varying start and finish dates.	Generally, there are 4 weeks of winter holiday, 2 before the Spring Festival, and 2 after, though this varies.
Secondary School
University