Golden Week (China)
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The Golden Week (), in the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, is the name given to three separate 7-day or 8-day national holidays which were implemented in 2000: *The "Labor Day (May Day) Golden Week" begins May 1 and was reintroduced in 2019 after discontinuation in 2007. * The " National Day Golden Week" begins around October 1. If
Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...
is near National Day, the Golden Week may be 8 days long. Three or four (if Mid-Autumn Festival is near National Day) days of paid leave are given, and surrounding weekends rescheduled so that workers always have seven or eight continuous days off. These national holidays were first started by the government for China's National Day in 1999, and are primarily intended to help expand the domestic
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
market and improve the national
standard of living Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available to an individual, community or society. A contributing factor to an individual's quality of life, standard of living is generally concerned with objective metrics outsid ...
, as well as allowing people to make long-distance family visits. The Golden Weeks are consequently periods of greatly heightened travel activity.


National Day Golden Week statistics


Changes and evolution

In 2004, there were calls to shorten Golden Week's duration due to its disruption of the regular economy. In 2006, delegates to the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...
brought up proposals to cancel both the National Day and
May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...
Golden Weeks, arguing that the holidays have not achieved significant results in promoting internal consumption, which was the original intention for these long holiday weeks. Rather, the delegates said, these Golden Weeks have disrupted people's regular 5-day weekly schedule and is increasingly impeding commerce and international trade, as many key government agencies, especially those related to customs, tax/tariff collection, and legal affairs, are shut down for seven days. Instead, they proposed, these days off should be spread out to other traditional holidays not currently recognized as public holidays, including
Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...
, Dragon Boat Festival, and
Qingming Festival The Qingming Festival or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day, Ancestors' Day, the Clear Brightness Festival, or the Pure Brightness Festival), is a traditional Chines ...
. Golden Weeks were sustained as weekly holidays through 2007. On December 16, 2007, China's official
Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ...
reported that the Chinese population was to have a further three national holidays and lose only one of its golden weeks, the May Day holiday, according to the calendar reform that the government has approved. May Day itself now became a one-day holiday. Three traditional festivals—
Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...
, Dragon Boat Festival, and
Qingming Festival The Qingming Festival or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day, Ancestors' Day, the Clear Brightness Festival, or the Pure Brightness Festival), is a traditional Chines ...
—were added to the list of public holidays. The
Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...
and National Day would remain three-day holidays, though in the Chinese New Year extra holiday days are ''de facto'' added by adjusting the weekend days before and after the three days holiday, resulting in a full week of public holiday. According to Xinhua, with this calendar revision, the Chinese government aimed to recover the customs associated with traditional festivals and balance tourist demand during the weeks of holidays. In practice, the new calendar, which came into force on January 1, 2008, would increase national holidays from 10 to 11 days. A spokesperson for the National Commission for Development and Reform said that the new plan would ratify Chinese traditions, better distribute holidays and prevent the "overcrowding" of the "golden weeks" when more people travel during the new holidays and during the periods of paid holidays. In 2020, the Chinese government reported that more than 637 million people traveled within China, creating around 466 billion yuan ($68.6 billion) in tourism revenue, during their country's annual "Golden Week", despite being in the midst of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.


See also

*
Balik Kampung Balik Kampung (English language, English: "return to village") is a Malay language, Malay term used in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei for the massive exodus during festive seasons such as Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Deepavali and Chinese New Year. Durin ...
(equivalent in Malaysia) * Chunyun * Golden Week in Japan * Holidays in the People's Republic of China


Notes and references

* *


External links

{{Portal bar, China, Society, Holidays Public holidays in China Weeks