China Holidays - 1996

Like other parts of the world, the New Year's Day in China is widely celebrated on the 1st of January every year.This day celebrated with a lot of joy in all parts of China. The streets are brightly lightened and crowded with people. Family members gather together for homely parties.Shopping is also an inevitable part of the New Years celebration in China.

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important traditional Chinese holidays. It is commonly called "Lunar New Year", because it is based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day.People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing.

The Qingming festival falls on the first day of the fifth solar term, named Qingming. Its name denotes a time for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of spring time and tend to the graves of departed ones.The Qingming Festival is an opportunity for celebrants to remember and honour their ancestors at grave sites. Young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, joss paper accessories, and/or libations to the ancestors.

International Workers' Day ,labour day or May Day celebrate on 1 st may. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. In China workers get leave for 7 days around the first week of May to celebrate the International Labor Day .This 7 day leave is called May Day Holiday in China. May Day Holiday is considered as one of the three Golden weeks of China .During these long holidays the Chinese travel along with their families as a result there is lot of hustle & bustle in China & the tourist find very difficult to get accommodation & other facilities.

Dragon Boat Festival is also known as Double Fifth Day because it falling on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.It is a public holiday in China,where it is known by the Mandarin name Duanwu Jié.Duanwu commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan. The main part of the celebrations includes eating the rice dumpling zongzi, drinking realgar wine xionghuangjiu, and racing dragon boats.This day also celebrated as "Poets' Day.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Zhongqiu Festival ,is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese.The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar.Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together.

The National Day celebrated every year on October 1. It is a public holiday in the People's Republic of China to celebrate its national day.The National Day is celebrated throughout mainland China,with a variety of government-organised festivities, including fireworks and concerts. Public places, such as Tiananmen Square in Beijing, are decorated in a festive theme. Portraits of revered leaders, such as Mao Zedong, are publicly displayed.