I should like to find out the dates of the public holidays in China in 2003. I've searched many websites but have been unable to find this information. Could you help me?

I would much appreciate your prompt reply. Thank you very much!

Best Regards,

Ho

email: tsuini@net-yan.com

_________________

Dear Ho:

Thank you for writing to us. It?s not surprising that you couldn?t find the exact public holiday dates for China in 2003 since the government has not yet announced them officially.

Essentially we have a total of 10 days for public holidays. New Year?s day plus three days each for International Labor Day, National Day and the Spring Festival (the traditional Chinese New Year according to the lunar calendar).

However, in order to let people have more consecutive days off together, the government intentionally ?moves? weekends to join up with the public holidays. This means that a three-day break becomes seven days as two ?weekends? become attached.

So in 2003 we?ll probably have the following holiday dates:

New Year holiday January 1-3

Spring Festival February 1-7

Labour Day holiday May 1-7

National Day holiday October 1-7

We do hope this will be helpful. However, as they have not yet been published officially, we cannot be completely sure of the dates, especially the Jan 1-3 break. New Year?s Day will fall on a Wednesday and we don?t know yet if the government intends to move a weekend to make up the three days.

Hoping this will help.

The Editors

(China.org.cn August 5, 2002)