Guide
Guide
When factories in China close for the New Year, and how to plan around it
Chinese New Year is the longest public holiday in China. The national holiday rules give four days off, but each factory sets its own dates, and many stop before the official break and start again after it. This guide gives the rule and the 2027 dates, then the steps of a custom order that need to sit on the right side of the holiday: the drawing, the sample, the run, the payments and the sailing.
The holiday
What China's holiday rules set, and what they leave to the factory
Chinese New Year is the Spring Festival, the start of the year in China's lunar calendar. Its date moves every year, and it always falls in late January or February.
China's rules on national holidays give everyone four days off for it: New Year's Eve and the first three days of the new year. New Year's Eve was added from January 1, 2025, by State Council Decree No. 795. When a holiday falls on a weekend, the day off is made up on a working day.
Each year the State Council's General Office publishes a notice that sets the actual break. It moves weekend working days so the days off run together. Since 2025 the aim has been eight days from New Year's Eve. In 2026 the break ran from February 15 to 23, and two Saturdays, February 14 and February 28, were worked to make up for it.
Factories set their own dates around that break. Many stop before it and start again after it, because much of their workforce travels home, often a long way, and comes back over the weeks that follow. Some workers do not come back, and the factory hires and trains new people. A factory may also stop taking new orders, and changes to orders already running, some time before its last working day.
So the dates that matter for your order are the factory's own: its last day for changes, its last working day and the day it starts again. Ask for them in writing before you sign.
2027
The 2027 dates, and what is still to be published
The lunar calendar fixes the festival's own dates. The official break, and the weekend days worked to make it up, come in the General Office's notice for 2027, which had not been published when this page was reviewed.
| Date | What it is | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, February 5, 2027 | New Year's Eve, the first of the four statutory days | The lunar calendar |
| Saturday, February 6, 2027 | New Year's Day, the first day of the first lunar month | The lunar calendar |
| Sunday, February 7, and Monday, February 8, 2027 | The second and third days, the last of the statutory days | The lunar calendar |
| To be published | The official break, and the weekend days worked to make it up | The State Council's General Office, in its notice for 2027 |
| Saturday, February 20, 2027 | The Lantern Festival, on the fifteenth day, which traditionally closes the festival season | The lunar calendar |
| Your factory's dates | Its last day for new orders and changes, its last working day before the holiday, and the day it starts again | The factory: ask for them in writing |
The notice for the coming year came out on October 25, 2023, November 12, 2024 and November 4, 2025.
Your order
Planning a custom order across the holiday, step by step
A custom order has steps only the factory can do and steps that wait on you. Put each one against the factory's dates before you pay the deposit.
Get the factory's dates first
Ask for its last day for changes, its last working day and the day it starts again, in writing, before you sign. If a trading company or an agent runs the order, ask it for the factory's dates.
Settle the drawing and the specification early
A change sent after the factory has stopped waits for the restart, and the date moves with it. Send every change before the factory's last day for changes.
Sign off the sample before the factory stops
If you approve the sample before the holiday, the run can start when the factory opens again. If not, the sample is made after the restart and the run waits for your sign-off. Keep the approved sample tagged at both ends, so the goods made after the holiday are made against it.
Agree what happens to a run the holiday cuts in two
If the run cannot finish before the last working day, agree in writing what will be finished before the factory stops, where the part-made goods and the materials already bought will wait, and the day production starts again.
Check the first goods made after the restart
Some of the people on the line after the holiday may be new to it. Check the first finished goods against the approved sample and the specification before the rest are packed.
Put each payment on the right side of the holiday
Tie each payment to what it pays for: the deposit to a signed contract, the balance to a check of the goods or to the shipping documents. Write down which side of the holiday each one falls on, so nothing falls due while the factory is closed.
Decide where finished goods wait
Goods finished just before the holiday may not sail until after it. Agree where the packed cartons wait, who looks after them and who answers for them until they are loaded.
Book the sailing around the rush
Before the holiday, exporters rush to ship and space on ships fills early. Over the holiday, shipping lines cancel some sailings because fewer goods leave China. Fix the date the goods will be ready with the factory, then book.
By season
Which holiday your season's order runs into
The holiday an order meets depends on when the goods have to be on site.
Plan a spring or summer event season
Party tents and crowd control barricades for a season that opens in spring or summer usually go on order over the winter, so the sample, the deposit or the run can fall across Chinese New Year. Send the list in time to settle the specification before the factory's last day for changes. Stocking a rental fleet covers the rest of that order.
Plan a Christmas install
Christmas arches and giant ornaments for a November install are usually drawn and quoted in spring, after the New Year holiday. The end of the run and the loading can then fall near China's National Day holiday at the start of October, so fix the ready date with that week in view.
Plan a gift shop range
A range for a summer season is drawn, sampled and signed off over the winter, across Chinese New Year. A range for a winter season is quoted in spring and signed off over the summer, so its run and its loading can meet the October holiday. Ordering a season ahead covers souvenir cups, knit beanies and the rest of a shop's range.
Plan a reorder
A reorder from the specification on file skips the drawing, but not the calendar. It still meets whichever holiday falls during its run, so ask for the factory's dates again.
The rest of the year
China's other public holidays, and the week in October
The same rules set six other holidays. Each year the notice turns most of them into a longer break by moving weekend working days, and since 2025 it has aimed at seven days from October 1 for National Day and five for Labour Day.
| Holiday | Statutory days off | In 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | One: January 1 | Friday, January 1 |
| Spring Festival | Four: New Year's Eve and the first three days of the year | Friday, February 5, to Monday, February 8 |
| Qingming (Tomb-Sweeping Day) | One: the day of Qingming | Monday, April 5 |
| Labour Day | Two: May 1 and 2 | Saturday, May 1, and Sunday, May 2 |
| Dragon Boat Festival | One: the fifth day of the fifth lunar month | Wednesday, June 9 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival | One: the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month | Wednesday, September 15 |
| National Day | Three: October 1 to 3 | Friday, October 1, to Sunday, October 3 |
The official break around each holiday, and the weekend days worked to make it up, are set in the General Office's notice for the year. The 2027 breaks are not published yet, so the table gives the statutory days only.
After the New Year, National Day matters most to an order. The break around it, often called Golden Week, ran seven days from October 1 in 2026, and eight in 2025, when it met the Mid-Autumn Festival. It can fall in the weeks when goods for a November install are finished and loaded, so fix the ready date for a Christmas order with that week in view, and ask the factory for its own dates.
Plan the check before packing, and the loading, so that neither lands on one of the shorter breaks either.
With us
Where we fit
A trading company in China
We are a trading company based in China, not a factory. We find the factory that can make your order, contract with it and follow the order while it is made. How we work covers the rest.
Dates worked back from yours
Tell us the date the goods have to be on site. The quote works back from it, and we confirm the specification and the date with the factory before you commit.
Checked against what you approved
An American on our team visits the factory while the order is made and checks the goods against the specification and the sample you approved, before they are packed.
The date we commit to
The buying calendar works out order-by dates for any date, with planning time for Chinese New Year and the October holiday. The quote for your order is the only date we commit to.
Specification on file
We keep your specification on file, so a reorder is a quantity and a date.
Where this applies
The products in these examples
Each product page has what sets the price and the quote form for that product.
Party and event tents
Frame tents for rental companies, venues and event firms: a galvanized steel frame with no centre poles, under a white PVC top, with sidewalls to order. We have several made to one spec sheet and shipped by the container, and the test paperwork for the exact fabric is agreed with you before you commit. Send the footprints, the style and how many, and we come back with the date and the landed quote.
See the party tents
Steel crowd control barricades
Bike rack barricades, also called police barricades or French barriers: a welded steel frame with upright bars that hooks into the next one. We have them made to your specification and shipped by the container, for event companies, rental fleets and cities. A Type III road barricade, with its reflective boards, is a different product. Send the frame, the feet, the finish and how many, and we come back with the date and the landed quote.
See the barricades
Christmas arches
Lit walk-through arches for park entrances, paths, plazas and light shows, in stars, snowflakes, hearts, gingerbread or a shape of your own. Tell us the opening to cover and what has to pass under it. The arch is built in sections that bolt together on site, and the quote covers it delivered to you.
See the arches
Giant Christmas ornaments
Lit ornament sculptures, walk-in ornaments for a photo spot, ornament stacks and plain oversized balls, each drawn to the space it will stand in. Tell us the spot and how far away people will see it. We have the piece made in China, crated in sections and quoted landed.
See giant ornaments
Custom souvenir cups
Souvenir cups in your own design for an attraction's gift shop or concession stand: stadium-style cups with lids and straws, colour-changing cups, one-piece aluminium cups and bottles, and light-bulb cups with a silver cap. Every part's material is named before you commit, each cup is marked with where it was made, and the order is planned back from your season's first day.
See the souvenir cups
Custom knit beanies
Beanies knitted to your design for the gift shop of an attraction or venue: your artwork and yarn colours knitted in, a pom-pom, a leather or faux-leather patch on the cuff and your own sewn labels, with scarves to match. You approve a sample before the run, and the order is planned back from the day the beanies have to be on your shelves.
See the knit beaniesWhere to go next
- Buying calendarOrder-by dates worked back from any date.
- Contract manufacturingHow a custom order runs, from the drawing to the delivery.
- Paying a supplier by T/TWhat the deposit and the balance are each tied to.
- OEM vs ODMWhose design, whose mould and whose approved sample.
Questions
Questions buyers ask
How long do factories shut for Chinese New Year?
China's national holiday rules give four days off. The official break, with weekend days moved, ran eight days in 2025 and nine in 2026. Each factory then sets its own dates, and many stop before the break and start again after it while their workers travel home and back. Ask yours for its last working day and the day it starts again.
How long does China shut down for Chinese New Year 2027?
The four statutory days fall on February 5 to 8, 2027: New Year's Eve and the first three days of the year. The official break is set in the General Office's notice for 2027, which had not been published when this page was reviewed, and factories set their own dates around it.
Are factories closed during Chinese New Year?
Factories stop for the official break. How far before and after it each one stops is its own decision, so ask yours for its dates in writing.
When do factories reopen after Chinese New Year?
On the day each factory sets for itself. The festival season traditionally ends with the Lantern Festival, on February 20 in 2027, and workers come back over the weeks after the break, so output picks up gradually.
What happens to an order that is half made when the factory stops?
It waits for the restart. Agree in writing what will be finished before the stop, where the part-made goods and the materials wait and the day work starts again, then check the first goods made after the restart against the approved sample.
Does shipping stop during Chinese New Year?
No, but it changes. Exporters rush to ship before the break, so space fills early, and shipping lines cancel some sailings over the holiday because fewer goods leave China.
Is Golden Week a factory holiday too?
Yes. Golden Week is the break around China's National Day on October 1. The rules give three days off, and the official break has run seven or eight days since 2025. It can fall while goods for a Christmas install are being finished and loaded.
Should I pay a deposit just before Chinese New Year?
Tie each payment to what it pays for, and agree in writing which side of the holiday it falls on. A deposit belongs against a signed contract, whatever the date.
Request a quote
Send the date your season opens
Send the product, the quantity and the date the goods have to be on site. We reply within 1 business day, and the quote gives the dates worked back from yours.
- Reply within 1 business day
- Landed cost, itemised
We take on the orders we can do well, and we will say so if yours isn't one of them.
