China Public Holiday Calendar 2026: Employer Guide & Compliance Insights

1. Introduction

China’s statutory holiday calendar is more than a list of days off. Each year, multi-day breaks, especially Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and National Day Golden Week, are paired with official make-up workdays, which can turn some weekends into regular workdays. For global employers, they can disrupt factory output and logistics capacity, and it directly changes how teams plan coverage, classify day types, and budget overtime.

This guide walks through China’s 2026 public holidays and the employer implications behind them, from workforce planning and payroll timing to the compliance basics that are easy to miss. You’ll also get practical tips for managing long-break periods and a quick overview of how Slasify can support compliant hiring and payroll operations in China.

2. Official 2026 Public Holiday Calendar in China

China’s public holidays in 2026 cover 7 major national holidays, each with its own multi-day break. Below is the official public holiday calendar for China: 

Key notes for employers:

• China’s holiday arrangements often include official make-up workdays, where weekends are designated as regular working days to extend long breaks (e.g., China’s Golden Week in 2026).
  
  
• For payroll and compliance, the biggest risk for employers is day-type misclassification. Statutory holidays, rest days, and make-up workdays can trigger different pay rules, and mistakes commonly lead to back pay and disputes.

3. Workforce Planning Around China’s Holidays

China has a unique working culture. Workforce planning in China isn’t just about time off, but more so, it’s about operating capacity. The holiday calendar can shift workdays, compress lead times, and change payroll exposure, so getting ahead of it helps you avoid last-minute coverage gaps and preventable compliance costs.

• Holiday clusters: The State Council’s 2026 arrangements create two major clusters, including Spring Festival (Feb 15–23) and National Day Golden Week (Oct 1–7). Plan as if business capacity will tighten across vendors, logistics, and administrative processes, and lock critical deliverables and coverage plans before these periods.
  
  
• Make-up workdays: The State Council may designate certain weekends as regular working days to extend long breaks. Treat these as normal workdays in your attendance records, and communicate the adjusted schedule early to avoid missed shifts, payroll misclassification, and employee disputes.
  
  
• Planning for the Chinese New Year Slowdown: For global businesses, the impact of Chinese New Year extends far beyond the official 7-day holiday. In practice, many factories and vendors shut down for two to three weeks, leading to slower logistics, supplier delays, and limited government processing. To avoid Q1 disruptions, businesses should plan buffer time into cross-border operations, align stakeholders early, and clarify what work will pause and what must continue during the holiday period.
  
  
• Payroll timing: Move payroll cutoffs earlier for long-break months so approvals, bank processing, and exception handling don’t collide with closures or reduced operating hours. Set one internal deadline for managers and vendors to prevent late pay issues.
  
  

“For foreign employers operating in China, Golden Week is more than just a statutory holiday—it is a period that can significantly affect business continuity, employee relations, and client obligations.”

Qian Zhou, China-Briefing

💡 Slasify Pro Tip: Navigating Spring Festival & Golden Week 

You can treat Spring Festival and Golden Week as a temporary “holiday operating mode” with clearer decision rights, such as what can pause, what must stay covered, and who approves exceptions. Many industries plan a longer Chinese New Year shutdown by building buffers into customer commitments and internal deadlines, because the real disruption often comes from the run-up and ramp-back, not the statutory dates alone. Finally, plan a lightweight “day-one back” priority list, so your teams can tackle the most urgent issues after the long break.

4. Employer Obligations Under China’s Labor Law

China’s 2026 public holiday calendar directly impacts wage costs, overtime calculation, payroll timing, and compliance. Employers must know the rules for working on statutory holidays and communicate with employees beforehand. 

• Holiday pay: Statutory public holidays are paid days off, so employees must still receive wages even if they don’t work. If employees work on a statutory holiday, employers must pay overtime at no less than 300% of the normal wage rate under China’s labor law, PRC Labor Law (Article 44), and compensatory leave cannot be used in lieu of overtime pay for statutory holidays.
  
  
• Make-up workdays: In 2026, the State Council designates Feb 14 (Sat), Feb 28 (Sat), May 9 (Sat), Sep 20 (Sun), and Oct 10 (Sat) as “working days” and should be scheduled and paid as regular working days with proper overtime rules applied only if daily or weekly hour limits are exceeded.
  
  
• Recordkeeping & statutory deductions: In addition to notifying employees of adjusted work schedules, employers also need to keep attendance, payroll, and work hour records for the holidays. Other responsibilities include declaring and paying social insurance contributions and withholding income tax when paying wages.
  
  
• Compliance risks: Misclassifying day-off types (statutory vs non-statutory) can result in incorrect payroll calculations, potential back-pay, or worker disputes, adding unnecessary administrative and legal costs for your business.
  
  

💡 Slasify Pro Tip: The Make-Up Day Trap

Don't let your global payroll software fail you. Many systems mistakenly flag "Saturday work" as overtime. In China, official make-up workdays (even on weekends) are treated as standard workdays paid at the regular rate. Ensure your attendance system is configured correctly to avoid costly overpayments.

5. Payroll & Compliance Considerations

Payroll compliance issues in China often start with a simple mistake: misclassifying the day type. Statutory public holidays, rest days, make-up workdays, and regular workdays can trigger different pay rules. One wrong misclassification can quickly turn into wage adjustments, tax and social contribution corrections, and avoidable disputes.

• Payroll planning: Long national breaks like China’s Golden Week in 2026 can compress approval cycles and slow bank processing. Build a holiday-aware cut-off calendar early, so payroll inputs, approvals, and exception handling don’t collide with closure periods.
  
  
• Statutory holiday overtime pay: If employees work on statutory public holidays, employers must pay no less than 300% of the normal wage for the hours worked. In practice, local authorities also emphasize that this is an additional payment and cannot be replaced by time off.
  
  
• Attendance tracking: Make-up workdays (often scheduled on weekends) tend to drive more leave requests and shift swaps. Lock the schedule early, and track attendance and hours tightly to avoid payroll misclassification and rework.
  
  
• Payroll recordkeeping: As a baseline, employers are required to keep payroll/payment/attendance records for at least 3 years. For tax and accounting records, employers are expected to keep them for at least 10 years and up to 30 years.
  
  

Overtime pay calculation examples (minimums)

To estimate overtime premiums for monthly-paid employees, payroll teams commonly convert the monthly salary into an hourly rate using a standard working-day factor (often 21.75 days) and 8 hours/day:

• Hourly rate: Monthly base salary ÷ 21.75 ÷ 8

• Premium pay: Hourly rate × overtime hours × multiplier

The multiplier for different workday types:

1. Overtime for working days: 150%

2. Overtime for rest days: 200% if no compensatory rest is provided

3. Overtime for public holidays: 300% (no time-off substitute)

The examples below use RMB 10,000 as the monthly wage. Note that the overtime & premium pay does not include the basic wage. 

Note: “Premium Pay” shows the minimum overtime payment for the hours worked, calculated from the hourly rate (monthly salary ÷ 21.75 ÷ 8). It excludes the employee’s regular monthly salary.

6. How Slasify Helps Employers in China Simplify China payroll compliance

Hiring and paying employees in China can get complicated quickly, especially once you factor in statutory holidays, make-up workdays, and day-type pay rules. Slasify helps you stay compliant and reduce operational overhead with localized HR and payroll support.

• Employer of Record for China: Hire full-time employees in China without setting up a local entity. Slasify’s EOR solution supports contracts, onboarding, and ongoing employment compliance.
  
  
• Payroll compliance: Slasify automates payroll, benefits, and taxes with the right calculations across provinces in China, so you can stay compliant while keeping operations predictable. Slasify also helps teams stay aligned when schedules shift by tracking public holidays and make-up workdays.
  
  
• Local expertise: Work with a dedicated account manager and our China employment guide to stay on top of local labor updates and holiday practices, and plan payroll cutoffs and shift coverage with fewer surprises.
  
  
• Scalability: Manage China alongside the other APAC countries in one unified HR and payroll platform, with support for 150+ countries and 130+ currencies. 

Navigate Complex Holiday Schedules with Slasify

China’s public holidays in 2026 include long multi-day breaks and officially designated make-up workdays, so workforce planning can become tricky when workers take paid leave and logistics tighten. Employers must plan to avoid misclassifying day types, as incorrect wage and overtime calculations can snowball and lead to further compliance risks on taxes, social contributions, and more.  

By partnering with a trusted Employer of Record in China like Slasify, you can navigate the complex holiday schedules, balance productivity, and stay compliant going into China’s Golden Week in 2026 with confidence. Book a demo with our payroll and compliance expert to start your planning today. 

7. FAQ for China’s Public Holidays in 2026 

Q1: Are all public holidays paid in China?

Statutory public holidays are paid, and employees should receive wages for statutory holidays even if they don’t work. If employees work on a statutory holiday, employers must pay overtime at the statutory rate of minimum 300%.

Q2: How does holiday overtime pay work in China? 

Under the PRC Labour Law, minimum overtime pay is 150% for overtime on workdays, 200% for working on rest days if no compensatory day off is arranged, and 300% for working on statutory public holidays. Note that the overtime pay is extra, on top of the daily basic wage.

Q3: What are the make-up workdays, and how should employers manage them?

Make-up workdays are official working days (often weekends) designated to compensate for long holiday breaks. Employers must treat them as regular workdays for payroll, standard pay applies, and no overtime premium is required unless hours exceed 8/day.

Q4: When is the official holiday calendar released each year? 

It’s typically issued by the General Office of the State Council in late-year for the following year; the 2026 arrangements were released on November 4th, 2025. 

Q5: Do contractors follow the same holiday rules as regular employees?

Statutory holiday/overtime protections primarily apply where there’s an employment relationship. Independent contractors are generally governed by their service contract, so holiday pay/time-off depends on the contract terms.