Measures for holiday adjustments and six questions on the scheduling of some holidays in 2025.

The State Council has made a decision to revise the "National Holidays and Commemorative Days Holiday Regulations", and announced the partial holiday arrangements for 2025. Officials in charge of relevant departments have accepted interviews from reporters on issues of concern to various sectors of society. Q: What is the main background for this revision? A: Since the establishment of the "National Holidays and Commemorative Days Holiday Regulations", revisions have been made in 1999, 2007, and 2013. With the development of the economy and society, the upgrading of industrial structure, the rising proportion of the service industry, and the continuous improvement of production efficiency, the foundation for increasing the length of holidays has been objectively provided, and corresponding requirements have been put forward. At the same time, the call for increasing holidays from the general public has been growing, and in recent years, relevant departments have collected and compiled public opinions and suggestions through various channels such as the National People's Congress proposals, online media, and special surveys, in preparation for the revision of the holiday regulations. The Party Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to this and made specific deployments. Q: What is the overall consideration for this revision? A: Optimizing holiday arrangements involves factors such as historical and cultural traditions, stages of economic and social development, changes in industrial structure, overall labor efficiency in society, and the rest and leisure needs of the people, which directly affect everyone's rest and the operation of each unit. Different demands from different groups and aspects vary, requiring overall consideration to find the "greatest common denominator" for the whole society. This revision mainly takes the following considerations into account: Overall stability. Over the years, China has established a pattern of holiday arrangements that balances long and short holidays and takes into account traditional holidays, gradually optimizing holiday arrangements to maintain the orderly operation of the economy and society. Moderate increase. With the development of the economy and society and the gradual improvement of living standards, the optimization of holiday arrangements should first consider meeting the rest and leisure needs of the public, and by increasing leisure time, "recharge" and "boost" can be achieved to promote the improvement of production efficiency, and expand consumption and drive the development of the service industry. Optimize structure. The long holidays such as Spring Festival, May Day, and National Day peak the public's travel to visit relatives. These holidays should be prioritized and guaranteed in the increased holidays, and other short holidays should be considered holistically to give the public more travel and vacation options as much as possible. Responsive to public opinion. Collecting and listening to public opinions and demands extensively through various channels, such as the National People's Congress proposals, political advisory body members' suggestions, and special surveys, making efforts to better respond to the demands and voices of various aspects of society in improving holiday arrangements. Q: What is the overall situation of China's holidays after the revision? A: Before the revision, there were 7 holidays for all citizens to take time off, totaling 11 days. After this revision, the 7 holidays will total 13 days off. Among them, Spring Festival will have 4 days off (from New Year's Eve to the thirteenth day of the first lunar month), with at least 8 days off through rescheduling, an increase of 1 day compared to before; National Day will have 3 days off (from October 1st to 3rd), forming a 7-day holiday through rescheduling; Labor Day will have 2 days off (May 1st and 2nd), with 5 days off through rescheduling, 1 day less than before; New Year's Day, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival will each have 1 day off, forming a 3-day holiday combining with consecutive weekends, except when they fall on a Wednesday. Q: What are the key points of this revision? A: This revision mainly focuses on five aspects. Increase in total holiday days. 2 more days have been added to the holidays for all citizens, namely New Year's Eve and May 2nd, increasing the total number of days off from 11 to 13. New Year's Eve included in holidays. In recent years, New Year's Eve has been mainly guaranteed by rescheduling or flexible leave. New Year's Eve is a traditional festival highly valued by all Chinese people. This revision includes New Year's Eve in the statutory holidays to better guarantee the reunion and enjoyment of the traditional festival by the public through institutionalized means. Extension of Spring Festival holiday. After the increase, the Spring Festival holiday will be 4 days off (from New Year's Eve to the third day of the first lunar month), with 8 days off through rescheduling. When New Year's Eve falls on a Friday, it can be extended to 9 days by combining with the weekend, for example, in 2027. The extension of the Spring Festival holiday is more fixed, allowing people to arrange family visits and vacations better. Reduction in May Day rescheduling. The "May Day" season is good and suitable for traveling. By increasing the holiday to 2 days, plus 2 days of weekends, only 1 day of rescheduling is needed to form a 5-day holiday. Clear rescheduling principles. Over the years, a relatively fixed rescheduling principle has been formed. This time, the rescheduling principles have been clarified and published, which can further stabilize expectations from all parties, allowing the public to plan and arrange future holidays based on these principles. Q: Rescheduling is of great concern to everyone. How is rescheduling arranged? A: We have noticed that opinions on rescheduling are mixed. Objectively speaking, rescheduling plays an irreplaceable positive role in meeting the needs of residents for family visits, tourism, and leisure, but there is still room for further optimization. This time, combined with the increase in the number of statutory holidays, efforts have been made to optimize the rescheduling arrangements as much as possible. Clear rescheduling principles. Except for a few special festive occasions, Spring Festival will have 8 days off starting from New Year's Eve, National Day will have 7 days off starting from October 1st, and Labor Day will have 5 days off. New Year's Day, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival will each have 3 days of holiday (except when they fall on a Wednesday, they will only be off on that day), and National Day combined with the Mid-Autumn Festival will have 8 days off (this will happen in 2025 and 2028). Optimize rescheduling arrangements. The regulations stipulate that holidays for all citizens can be reasonably arranged for unified rescheduling. Except for a few special festive occasions, the working days before and after statutory holidays generally do not exceed 6 consecutive days. Q: What work considerations are there for the next step in optimizing holiday arrangements? A: Optimizing holiday arrangements involves all aspects of the economy and society, affecting the production, life, and arrangements of enterprises and the public. It requires comprehensive planning and orderly promotion. Relevant departments will conscientiously implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, coordinate the implementation of policies such as toll-free holidays on highways, and the increase in transportation capacity of railways and civil aviation, guide relevant enterprises and institutions to arrange production and operation activities reasonably, and ensure the smooth and successful landing of relevant policies. In particular, actively promoting the implementation of the paid annual leave system, allowing the public to have more fully and flexibly arranged holidays through annual leave beyond statutory holidays. At the same time, relevant departments will closely follow the demands of the people, continually promote more scientific and reasonable holiday arrangements based on the actual development of the economy and society, and better meet the aspirations of the people for a better life. (End) This article is reproduced from "Xinhua News Agency", edited by GMTEight: Chen Xiaoyi.