There are actually three big holidays in China every year. The biggest and longest one is the Chinese
New Year. The other two are: Labor Day
in May and National Day in October. Officially,
the latter two is a three-day holiday. But
unofficially, it is a bit longer.
The worst part is the disruption and discontinuity. Not so much the actual holidays themselves,
but the fact that the Chinese government move weekends around to string a two
or three day holiday into a week-long super break for its citizens. While this is fine for domestic businesses,
since everybody will be on-and-off at the same time, it is very disruptive for
international trading.
For example, if the three-day holiday starts on Tuesday and goes
through Thursday, the government would have people work on the previous Saturdays
and Sundays so that they can take Monday and Friday off. This would mean the citizens get a seven-day
holiday schedule instead of three. Make
sense? This is what the Chinese
government called: China-styled Socialism.
In any event, the two minor holidays starts around the first of
the month in May and October, and officially, the holiday is a three-day break. But do expect a possible one or two days shift
before or after the designated three-day holidays. Every year is different, and the schedule is
not announced until a week or two before the actual holidays. So stay tuned, we’ll keep you updated as we
get closer.
