The short answer
If you are planning a trip to China, a business visit or a family reunion in 2027, you are probably searching for China public holidays 2027. Here is the honest answer as of 7 October 2026.
- The fixed parts are known. China’s holiday law sets which festivals are public holidays and how many days each one gets. The lunar festival dates for 2027 are also fixed by the calendar. Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday 6 February.
- The exact day-off schedule is not out yet. Each year the General Office of the State Council publishes a notice that sets the actual days off and the “makeup” working days (调休). The 2026 notice (国办发明电〔2025〕7号) came out on 4 November 2025. As of today, no 2027 notice has been published, so any website showing exact 2027 days off and makeup workdays is guessing.
This guide gives you the verified dates now, so you can make provisional plans and know what to check once the official notice appears.
How China’s public holidays work
China’s holidays come from the National Measures on Holidays for Annual Festivals and Commemorative Days (全国年节及纪念日放假办法). The State Council last revised it in November 2024, with effect from 1 January 2025. Article 2 lists seven festivals for all citizens:
- New Year’s Day: 1 day (1 January)
- Spring Festival (Chinese New Year): 4 days (lunar New Year’s Eve plus the first three days of the first lunar month)
- Qingming Festival: 1 day (the day of the Qingming solar term)
- Labour Day: 2 days (1 and 2 May)
- Dragon Boat Festival: 1 day (5th day of the 5th lunar month)
- Mid-Autumn Festival: 1 day (15th day of the 8th lunar month)
- National Day: 3 days (1 to 3 October)
That makes 13 statutory holiday days. Two more rules explain why actual breaks are longer and sometimes confusing:
- Article 6: if a holiday for all citizens falls on a Saturday or Sunday, a substitute day off is given on a working day.
- Article 7: holidays can be grouped with adjusted days off to form longer breaks. Except in special cases, people should generally not work more than six days in a row before or after a holiday.
In practice this creates China’s famous makeup workdays: Saturdays or Sundays that become working days so that a holiday can stretch to a full week. In 2026, for example, Golden Week ran from 1 to 7 October, and Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October were working days. Our guide to Q4 2026 makeup workdays explains how this feels on the ground.
Verified 2027 festival dates
The dates below come from the Hong Kong Observatory’s Gregorian-Lunar calendar conversion tables for 2027, which also list the solar terms. These are the festival days themselves. They are not the official start and end dates of each holiday break.
- New Year’s Day: Friday 1 January 2027
- Chinese New Year’s Eve (除夕): Friday 5 February 2027
- Chinese New Year (Spring Festival): Saturday 6 February 2027, the first day of the Year of the Goat
- Qingming Festival: Monday 5 April 2027
- Labour Day: Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 May 2027
- Dragon Boat Festival: Wednesday 9 June 2027
- Mid-Autumn Festival: Wednesday 15 September 2027
- National Day: Friday 1 October 2027, with the statutory three days running to Sunday 3 October
What the calendar suggests (but doesn’t confirm)
Combining these dates with the rules above lets you spot the pressure points, although the official notice decides the details:
- Spring Festival 2027: the statutory four days are Friday 5 to Monday 8 February. Two of them fall on a weekend, so Article 6 substitute days apply. Recent years have produced a break of roughly a week or more. The 2026 Spring Festival break ran nine days, from 15 to 23 February. Expect makeup workdays nearby.
- Labour Day 2027: 1 and 2 May fall on a weekend, so substitute days will be needed.
- National Day 2027: 1 to 3 October run from Friday to Sunday. As in most recent years, the break may be extended into a longer Golden Week using adjusted days.
- Qingming and Dragon Boat each fall on a single day, on a Monday and a Wednesday respectively. How they are bridged to a weekend is for the notice to decide.
Festivals that are not public holidays
Many important festivals are not days off, but they still shape restaurants, shops and crowds. Verified 2027 dates (Hong Kong Observatory tables):
- Laba Festival: Friday 15 January 2027. Read our Laba Festival guide.
- Lantern Festival: Saturday 20 February 2027. See our Lantern Festival guide.
- Qixi (Chinese Valentine’s Day): Sunday 8 August 2027
- Double Ninth (Chongyang) Festival: Friday 8 October 2027, which is also the day of Cold Dew that year
- Winter Solstice (Dongzhi): Wednesday 22 December 2027
Still to come in 2026
The rest of this year has two dates worth knowing. Saturday 10 October 2026 is a makeup workday under the 2026 notice. The Double Ninth Festival 2026 falls on Sunday 18 October 2026, the 9th day of the 9th lunar month (Hong Kong Observatory). It is not a mainland public holiday. Our Double Ninth 2026 guide and Chongyang cake guide cover the customs. Hong Kong has its own holiday list, and the Observatory’s 2026 calendar shows Monday 19 October as a general holiday there (the day after Chung Yeung).
How to plan a 2027 trip around the holidays
1. Decide whether you want the festival or want to avoid it
Spring Festival and Golden Week are the times to see China celebrating, with reunion dinners, decorations and temple fairs. They are also when domestic travel peaks. Our Chinese New Year guide for visitors explains what opens and closes. If you just want quieter sightseeing, aim for the weeks between holidays.
2. Book flexibly until the notice is out
Until the State Council notice confirms the exact days off, book refundable hotels and avoid non-changeable flights for the days right around each festival. Once the notice is published, change your plans if you need to.
3. Know when train tickets go on sale
Domestic train tickets are released on 12306 within a pre-sale window before each travel date. Check the current window in the official app rather than relying on old blog posts. Our guides on booking HSR before a holiday and refunding or changing a 12306 ticket help if your plans move.
4. Watch the makeup weekends
If you work in China or deal with Chinese suppliers, the makeup weekend days matter as much as the days off. Offices, factories and schools run on those Saturdays or Sundays. When the 2027 notice appears, add both lists to your calendar. Our pick of lunar calendar apps for expats can help.
5. Check visa timing
Long holidays are a popular time to visit. Several dozen nationalities currently have a 30-day visa-free entry arrangement that, for most of them, is scheduled to run until 31 December 2026. If your trip falls in 2027, see our guide to China’s 30-day visa-free entry and check for official updates before you book.
Where to find the official 2027 schedule
When it is published, the notice will be titled 国务院办公厅关于2027年部分节假日安排的通知 (Notice of the General Office of the State Council on the Arrangement of Some Holidays in 2027). It will appear on the Chinese government website, www.gov.cn, and will be widely reported by state media. Trust that notice over third-party calendars, including this one, for exact days off.
FAQ
When is Chinese New Year 2027?
Saturday 6 February 2027. New Year’s Eve is Friday 5 February 2027.
Has China announced the 2027 holiday schedule?
Not as of 7 October 2026. The 2026 schedule was published on 4 November 2025, so a similar timing is possible but not guaranteed.
How many public holiday days does China have?
Thirteen statutory days for all citizens under the 2024 revision of the holiday rules. Actual breaks are longer because of weekend substitution and makeup workdays.
Is Double Ninth a public holiday in mainland China?
No. In 2026 it falls on Sunday 18 October, and in 2027 on Friday 8 October.
Why do Chinese holidays move every year?
Spring Festival, Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn follow the lunar calendar, and Qingming follows a solar term, so their Gregorian dates change from year to year.
Bottom line
For China public holidays 2027, the framework and the festival dates are certain. Chinese New Year falls on 6 February, Qingming on 5 April, Dragon Boat on 9 June and Mid-Autumn on 15 September, and Golden Week starts on 1 October. The exact days off and makeup workdays are not, and will come in the State Council notice, probably late in 2026. Plan flexibly now and confirm later. Lovely China, founded in 2025, welcomes corrections at [email protected].
