Learning Chinese

Culture

Festivals & Holidays

Chinese culture has a rich calendar of festivals tied to the lunar calendar. The character 节 (jié) means "festival" or "holiday" and ends almost every holiday name.

CharacterPinyinMeaning
chūnspring
jiéfestival / joint
qiūautumn

Major holidays

  • 春节 — Chūnjié — Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). The most important holiday — families gather, eat 饺子 (dumplings), give 红包 (red envelopes with money), and set off firecrackers.
  • 元宵节 — Yuánxiāo jié — Lantern Festival, 15 days after Spring Festival. Eat sweet rice balls (汤圆) and view lanterns.
  • 清明节 — Qīngmíng jié — Tomb-Sweeping Day (early April). Visit ancestral graves.
  • 端午节 — Duānwǔ jié — Dragon Boat Festival (5th day of 5th lunar month). Race dragon boats and eat 粽子 (sticky rice in leaves).
  • 中秋节 — Zhōngqiū jié — Mid-Autumn Festival (full moon of 8th lunar month). Eat mooncakes (月饼) and view the moon.
  • 国庆节 — Guóqìng jié — National Day (October 1). A solar-calendar holiday, marks the founding of the PRC in 1949.

The Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn, and Dragon Boat festivals follow the lunar calendar, so their dates shift each year on the Western calendar.

Quiz

Pick the best answer for each question. You get feedback right away.

  1. Which is the most important Chinese holiday?

  2. What is eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

  3. The character 节 (jié) means: