Chinese New Year, or call it Spring Festival as you may known it as, is grandest traditional festival of Chinese people. It is also a well-celebrated festival within Chinese culture region around the world.
When is Chinese New Year Festival?
The time of Chinese New Year is not 1st Jan like it in the west. In China, many of our festivals like Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn festival and Chinese New Year, the date goes with the Chinese lunar calendar. Therefore, the actual Chinese New Year dates vary slightly between years. Usually, it falls on the period during late January to early February of the Gregorian calendar every year. In 2019, Chinese New Year falls on February 5th, Tuesday.
Hong long does Chinese New Year Festival last？
The celebration goes from the festival eve from the first day to the 15th day which marked as the end of the celebration also known as the Lantern Festival.
Date of Chinese New Year: 2019,2020-2030
| Year | Chinese New Year Eve | Chinese New Year Date | Day of Week | Zodiac Animal |
| 2019 | February 4 | February 5 | Tuesday | Pig |
| 2020 | January 24 | January 25 | Saturday | Rat |
| 2021 | February 11 | February 12 | Friday | Ox |
| 2022 | January 31 | February 1 | Tuesday | Tiger |
| 2023 | January 21 | January 22 | Sunday | Rabbit |
| 2024 | February 9 | February 10 | Saturday | Dragon |
| 2025 | January 28 | January 29 | Wednesday | Snake |
| 2026 | February 16 | February 17 | Tuesday | Horse |
| 2027 | Febraury 5 | February 6 | Saturday | Goat |
| 2028 | January 25 | January 26 | Wednesday | Monkey |
| 2029 | February 12 | Februay 13 | Tuesday | Rooster |
| 2030 | Febraury 2 | February 3 | Sunday | Dog |
Chinese New Year Public Holiday in Mainland China
Chinese people will get 7 days off work holiday, which will be from the first day of the Chinese New Year till the seventh day of the New Year. But the traditional celebration and holiday ambience continue to the 15th of the New Year which is the Lantern Festival marking the end of Chinese New Year celebration.
People shall get back to work on the eighth day of the New Year even if it is a Sunday or Saturday. This is a bit different than that in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or many other nations where if a holiday falls on Saturday or Sunday, the holiday tends to be automatically postponed to the next Monday or released earlier on Friday of this week. In mainland China, though it has 7-days holiday, people have to keep working till the last day before holiday and get back to work right after the first day after holiday regardless if it is a Sunday of not.
| FEBURARY 2019 Chinese New Year —— Spring Festival | ||||||
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 |
2 Adjust work day |
3 Adjust work day |
|
4 Spring Festival Eve |
5 Chinese New Year |
6 Spring Festival Holiday |
7 Spring Festival Holiday |
8 Spring Festival Holiday |
9 Spring Festival Holiday |
10 Spring Festival Holiday |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 |
19 Lantern Festival |
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Chinese New Year Public Holiday in Hong Kong
Compared to 7-day mainland Chinese New Year public holiday, the New Year public holiday in Hong Kong is 3 days. But unlike holidays in mainland China, if the Chinese New Year public holiday falls on a Monday in Hong Kong, you can easily get two days leave on Thursday and Friday of that week, so together with both weekends before and after the holiday week, you should be able to get 9-day off. Therefore the Hong Kong citizens in fact get more days off though they just have 3-day holiday.
Chinese New Year Lunar Calendar & Zodiac Animal
Chinese lunar calendar is a centuries-old traditional calendar widely used in China. It is a general guide for Chinese to select auspicious days for weddings, funerals, moving, or to begin a business. It reckons years, months and days according to astronomical phenomena and associated with 12 animal signs in Chinese zodiac as well. The months in lunar calendar begin with new moon and the Chinese New Year is in fact the first new moon of the whole year. Chinese new year 2019 will be the year of Pig.