What Chinas New Year Festival Is

The Longest Public Holiday in China

In 2016 most Chinese will be off work from Sunday, February 7 (New Years Eve) to Saturday, February 13 (the 6th day of Chinese New Year).

Officially only the first three days of Chinese New Year (February 8–10, 2016) are statutory holiday. Chinese New Years Eve and three more days are always added to give seven consecutive days of holiday. These four extra days are taken from weekends: the two weekend days closest to the statutory holiday are included, while the Saturday before (February 6, 2016) and the Sunday after (February 14, 2016) are worked. More on Chinas public holidays>>

A Festival for Families to Be Together

Chinese New Years Reunion Dinner

Chinese New Year is a time for families to be together. Wherever they are, people come home to celebrate the festival with their families.

The New Years Eve dinner is called Reunion Dinner, and is believed to be the most important meal of the year. Big families – families of several generations sit around round tables and enjoy the food and time together.

The importance of reunion during the Spring Festival has caused some difficult situations for Chinas increasingly womens lib. couples in recent years, who want to go to different homes for the festival. Divorce has happened because of disputes over going to whose home for the festival. (In the past a married couple would always go to the mans home unless the husband joined the wifes family at marriage.)