International Labor Day (May Day)

This holiday is introduced to China after 1949 and is an important official holiday.

International Workers' Day (a name used interchangeably with May Day) is a celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labour movement. May Day commonly sees organized street demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of working people and their labour unions throughout Europe and most of the rest of the world — though, as noted below, in neither the United States nor Canada. More radical groups such as communists and anarchists are also given to widespread street protest on this day as well.

In the China, May 1st marks the start of one of the country's three so-called "Golden Weeks". Three days off work are given, and the surrounding weekends are re-arranged so that workers in Chinese workplaces always have seven continuous days of holiday starting on the first of May and ending on the seventh. This holiday, known as "Wu Yi" (??, literally "5.1") also includes Youth Day on May 4, and is the peak period for Chinese citizens to travel around China and abroad. The government mandates the "Golden Weeks" holidays more for the purpose of domestic consumption and tourism than its political purpose.