Currently, there are seven official public holidays in Mainland China, namely the New Year Holiday, the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), the Qingming Festival Holiday (Tomb Sweeping Day), the May Day Holiday (Labor Day), the Dragon Boat Festival Holiday, the Mid-Autumn Festival Holiday and the National Day Holiday.

Check out China Public Holidays Schedule for 2010

Chinese people enjoy altogether 11 days of public holidays each year. However, weekday holidays are often combined with weekends to form a longer holiday. For example, the National Day holiday is three days long. As a measure to encourage and increase holiday spending, the government exchange weekdays with weekends to form a week-long holiday. The resulting seven-day holidays are called 'golden weeks', considered as the peak season for tourism and retailing.

The 'golden weeks' (the Chinese New Year Holiday and the National Day Holiday), the May Day Holiday and the New Year Holiday are the peak time for travel in China. Hotel rooms, flights and trains are in tight demand during these holidays. It is suggested that tourists place their bookings at least one month in advance, if they expect to travel in China during these periods.

In addition to the seven public holidays which are applicable to the whole population, there are four public holidays applicable to specific categories of the population. Women have half-day off on March 8, the International Women’s Day, Youths above the age of 14 have half-day off on May 4, the Youth Day, children below the age of 14 have one day off on June 1, the Children’s Day, and military personnel in active service have half-day off on August 1, the Army Day.