China's Autumn 2026 Holiday Closures: What Do You Check Now?

What Exactly Did China's Government Confirm About the Autumn Holidays?

China's State Council confirmed both windows in one gazette notice. Its Mid-Autumn line reads "中秋节：9月25日（周五）至27日（周日）放假，共3天": Mid-Autumn Festival, Friday 25 September to Sunday 27 September, three days off. Its National Day line reads "国庆节：10月1日（周四）至7日（周三）放假调休，共7天": National Day, Thursday 1 October to Wednesday 7 October, seven days off with make-up working days. Both lines sit in the same notice from the State Council General Office, published as Guobanfaming Dian [2025] No. 7 and dated 4 November 2025. We read it from the saved gazette page on 9 September 2026.

The same notice adds two working days to make up the extra days off. Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October both count as ordinary working days on this schedule. Nothing here is a courier, customs or platform rule. It is the government's own holiday calendar. How closely any factory, supplier or freight office follows it is that business's own decision.

Which of My China-Sourced Orders Does This Reach?

It reaches any order still being made, packed or dispatched from a mainland China factory, supplier or freight forwarder during either window, whatever country you ship to and whatever product it is — the notice draws no line by destination or category. The notice is addressed to provincial governments and State Council departments; it says nothing about how any individual factory, forwarder or courier staffs those days, which is why the next section matters as much as the dates.

The same mechanic played out earlier this year around a different holiday, and the guide on how agencies plan for Chinese New Year walks through how a longer-running agency handles one confirmed closure window. The calendar changes; the planning steps around it don't.

Does This Notice Guarantee What My Own Supplier or Courier Will Do?

No — it tells you what the Chinese government's own calendar says, not what any one factory, agent or courier will actually do. The notice sets the public-holiday calendar; it does not say whether a given factory runs shortened hours instead of a full closure or closes longer than the official window around Golden Week, and it says nothing about how private couriers, customs offices or platform warehouses schedule their own staff.

If you don't source from mainland China at all, or your supplier already publishes its own closure calendar independently of this notice, none of these four dates changes anything for you. Treat every date here as what to ask about, not what to assume — if a specific supplier is later found working through 25-27 September or 1-7 October, that's a fact about that supplier, not a contradiction of the government's own schedule.

What Do I Check on My Own Orders Before Each Cut-Off?

Run through your own standing orders against both windows before you do anything else, then send the line below to any customer it touches.

• Ask your factory or supplier directly whether they close for the full three days (25-27 September) and the full seven days (1-7 October), or something shorter or longer.
• Ask your freight forwarder or China-side fulfilment partner for its own closure dates separately — a factory closing does not mean the warehouse or freight desk closes on the same days.
• Check every order due to ship in the week before either window starts, and flag any whose promised delivery date now falls inside a closure.
• Confirm whether your supplier treats 20 September and 10 October as ordinary working days, the way the government calendar does, or folds them into a longer break.
• Forward this exact line to any customer whose order could be affected: "China's government has confirmed nationwide holiday closures of 25-27 September and 1-7 October 2026 (Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day), with 20 September and 10 October made compensatory working days for the National Day break -- please check with your own supplier or logistics partner how these dates affect your order."

For the general version of this checklist, not tied to one date, the guide on planning for factory holidays and sudden demand covers the same steps for any closure window, not just this one.

So What's the One Thing to Do Before 20 September?

Confirm your own supplier's and forwarder's real closure dates now, before that first compensatory working day on 20 September, so you know which standing orders need a customer message before the shutdown starts rather than after a parcel goes quiet.

What's known comes straight from the State Council's own gazette: the two holiday windows and the two working days that offset them. What's inferred is that most mainland factories, suppliers and logistics offices plan around this calendar; the notice does not say so, and only your own supplier can confirm it. What's missing is any word from your own supplier, agent or courier — this notice is a government labour calendar, not a promise about a specific factory, warehouse or delivery network. Until you have that confirmation, plan every order due in either window as if the longer closure applies, and adjust once your own supply chain tells you otherwise.