General Information » Facts & Figures » Public Holidays

Hong Kong has 17 public holidays per year, helping make up for the generally stingy annual leave allowances local companies give. The holidays fall into three main groups. First come the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter. Then there’s a patriotic group including Labour Day, National Day, and the snappily-titled ‘Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day’. Finally, the bulk are traditional Chinese cultural holidays such as Lunar New Year and the Ching Ming festival, which have been celebrated in Chinese communities for hundreds if not thousands of years. These holidays are based on a traditional lunar calendar, so they move around year by year.

Some other points to think about:

• If a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is given as the holiday instead. But if it falls on a Saturday and you work a five-day week, tough luck – you lose that holiday.

• The land borders to China are very busy around public holidays, and are best avoided.

• China has three ‘Golden Week’ national holidays per year, corresponding to the Hong Kong public holidays for the Lunar New Year, Labour Day, and National Day. During these weeks, basically all of China is on holiday at the same time. Choose another time of year to visit!

• Lunar New Year (more commonly known as Chinese New Year or just CNY) is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar. It is the one time of year that most of Hong Kong’s shops and businesses close, with many people travelling home to spend the time with their families.

• Two holidays you should make the effort to attend are the Tuen Ng Festival (more commonly known as the ‘Dragon Boat Festival’), and the Mid-Autumn Festival. See Annual Events on p.50 for more details.

Listings

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL