Recruiting in China

Ok folks, it’s official! Now that the State Council has released its 2009 holiday schedule, we can start our planning and make full use of the precious vacation time for the coming year.

The intricacies of slapping on an extra day or two to really stretch out that 3-day weekend can sometimes be tricky. Stay local or jaunt to the near abroad? How does one overcome the teaming mass of humanity clustered at the airports and train stations? More importantly, How mad would your boss really be if you stuck ALL your vacation time right after that very meaty 8-day break in October? We’ll leave that to the tricky dicks out there.

It’s been rather common for office workers to start the work week on a Sunday after 3 continuous public holidays. Of course, not all companies abide by this schedule, and not everyone gets to take Saturdays or any time off at all.

New Year: January 1st (Thu) - 3rd (Sat). Back to work on January 4th (Sun.).

Lunar New Year: January 25th (Sun) - 31st (Sat). Back to work on February 1st (Sun).

Qing Ming Festival: April 4th (Sat) – 6th (Mon).

Labor Day: May 1st (Fri) – 3rd (Sun).

Dragon Boat Festival: May 28th (Thu) – 30th (Sat). Back to work on May 31st (Sun).

National Day and Mid-Autumn: October 1st (Tue) – 8th (Thu). Back to work on October 9th (Fri)

As you can see, there are no public holidays from June to September. This means if you have no planned vacation during this time, it will be a very long (and hot) summer.

Source: "Red Sea of Tourists" by stelzer