Mid-Autumn Festival 2026: 25-27 September, and It Does Not Run Into Golden Week This Year
The 2026 Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in mainland China is 25-27 September. It does not join the 1-7 October National Day holiday: 28, 29 and 30 September are ordinary working days.
The dates: three days, 25-27 September
In 2026 the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Friday 25 September, and the mainland China public holiday runs 25-27 September — three days, Friday through Sunday.[1][2]
The date moves each year because the festival is set by the lunar calendar: the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. That lands on 25 September in 2026 and 15 September in 2027.[2]
It does not join up with the National Day holiday this year
This is where English-language guides most often go wrong. Several describe Mid-Autumn and the National Day Golden Week as effectively back-to-back, producing a ten-day-plus break. In 2026 that is not the case.[1]
The State Council notice sets Mid-Autumn at 25-27 September and National Day at 1-7 October. That leaves 28, 29 and 30 September as ordinary working days in between. The two holidays are separated by a normal three-day work block, not merged.[1]
One widely cited guide phrases it carefully as "3 days, or 8 days if close to China National Day on Oct.1". That is a conditional describing years where the gap happens to close up — and 2026 is not one of them. Reading the conditional as the outcome is how the error spreads.[2]
What the notice does say is that workplaces and individuals are encouraged to combine paid annual leave to form longer breaks and to stagger travel. A long continuous break in 2026 therefore comes from taking leave, not from the public holiday calendar.[1]
Mid-Autumn and National Day are worded differently in the notice
The two holidays are not structured the same way, and the notice's own wording shows it. Mid-Autumn is written as 放假 — time off, with no compensating workday. National Day is written as 放假调休 — time off with schedule adjustment.[1]
The practical consequence is the makeup days. For National Day the notice designates Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October as working days. Note that the first of those falls *before* Mid-Autumn, five days ahead of it — so a Sunday spent at work in the run-up to the festival is there because of October's holiday, not September's.[1]
Mid-Autumn needs no such adjustment because 25 September is already a Friday, so the three days run into the existing weekend without borrowing from anywhere.[1]
If you are travelling in China around these dates
The two separate holidays still mean two separate travel peaks within about a week of each other, and the notice explicitly asks people to stagger travel. Late September and early October are both busy, but the quiet window between them — 28-30 September — is a normal working period.[1]
Toll-free expressway access is a common follow-up question and is not the same for the two holidays. That is set out separately in the companion page on 2026 expressway tolls, because the rule turns on which holidays are named in a different policy document rather than on holiday length.[1]
A local operating schedule confirms the gap
The claim that the two holidays do not join up rests on 28, 29 and 30 September being ordinary working days. That can be checked against something other than the notice itself: how transport operators actually schedule those days.[3]
The Shanghai Municipal People's Government published the Jinshan Railway service plan for this period on 16 September 2026. It runs a weekend schedule on 25-27 September and on 1-7 October, and a weekday schedule on Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October. The three days in between — 28, 29 and 30 September — are not listed under the weekend schedule at all, which is what you would expect if they are ordinary working days.[3]
The same document independently confirms the two makeup working days this page describes: Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October both run on the weekday plan. This matters for sourcing. The other two references on this page are a state-media reprint of the State Council notice and a travel guide; neither is an independent check on the other. A municipal government scheduling document is a different institution publishing an operational decision, not a restatement of the notice.[3]
Verified facts
Each fact is labelled with its evidence typeEach fact in this section carries its evidence type — either cross-checked against independent sources, or confirmed from a single authoritative record.
Statements and readings
Not counted as facts — each item shows what kind of statement it isFrom here on: statements not counted as facts — single-source reports, the issuing body’s own statements, and this page’s own readings, each labeled.
The State Council notice describes the Mid-Autumn holiday as 放假 (time off) with no compensating workday attached, while National Day is described as 放假调休 (time off with schedule adjustment) and lists two makeup workdays.[1] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Wording of the State Council General Office notice of 4 November 2025
The National Day holiday runs 1-7 October 2026, and the notice designates Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October as working days.[1] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Dates listed in the State Council General Office notice
TravelChinaGuide describes the holiday as "3 days, or 8 days if close to China National Day on Oct.1", a conditional that depends on the gap in a given year.[2] single-source ×1 · Conditional wording published by TravelChinaGuide
The same source gives the 2027 Mid-Autumn Festival date as 15 September 2027.[2] single-source ×1 · Date table published by TravelChinaGuide
The State Council notice encourages workplaces and individuals to combine paid annual leave to form longer breaks and to stagger travel.[1] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Closing paragraph of the State Council General Office notice
Timeline
- 2025-11-04
The State Council General Office publishes the 2026 public holiday schedule.[1]
- 2026-09-20
Sunday designated as a working day to offset the National Day holiday.[1]
- 2026-09-25
Mid-Autumn Festival; the three-day public holiday begins.[1][2]
- 2026-09-28
Ordinary working days resume, through 30 September.[1]
- 2026-10-01
National Day holiday begins, running to 7 October.[1]
- Model
- claude-opus-5
- Time
- 09/11/2026, 10:00
- Body characters
- 3,752
- Sources
- 3 sources adopted
- Model
- claude-opus-5 (separate review pass)
- Time
- 09/11/2026, 10:00
- Verdict
- Passed
Show revision history (1)
| 09/11/2026, 10:00 | First authored (claude-opus-5) | Created |
| 09/18/2026, 13:05 | Content updated | Updated |
Corrections
| 09/18/2026 | The page previously relied on a state-media reprint of the State Council notice and a travel guide, which are not independent of each other. Added the Jinshan Railway service plan published by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government (16 September 2026) as an operational document from a different institution, confirming both the 25-27 September / 1-7 October split and the 20 September and 10 October makeup working days. No existing dates were changed. | Applied |
Frequently asked
When is the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2026?
Friday 25 September 2026. The mainland China public holiday runs 25-27 September, three days in total.[1][2]
Does Mid-Autumn connect with Golden Week in 2026?
No. Mid-Autumn is 25-27 September and National Day is 1-7 October, leaving 28, 29 and 30 September as ordinary working days between them.[1]
Why do some guides say it is an eight-day or ten-day break?
Because that describes years when the gap closes up. One widely cited guide words it conditionally as "3 days, or 8 days if close to China National Day". In 2026 the condition does not apply.[1][2]
Is there a makeup workday for Mid-Autumn?
No. The notice describes Mid-Autumn as 放假 with no compensating workday. The makeup days it lists, Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October, belong to the National Day holiday.[1]
Why is Sunday 20 September a working day?
It offsets the seven-day National Day holiday, even though it falls five days before Mid-Autumn. It is not connected to the September festival.[1]
When is the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2027?
15 September 2027. The date moves each year because the festival is set on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month.[2]
Is there an independent way to confirm 28-30 September are working days?
Yes. The Jinshan Railway service plan published by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government on 16 September 2026 runs a weekend schedule only on 25-27 September and 1-7 October, and a weekday schedule on Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October. The three days in between are not on the weekend schedule.[3]