STATUS REPORT · LOADING…
PROBABLY.
A live tracker of every Chinese public holiday, festival and factory shutdown. Chinese New Year 2027 is February 6. Factories close for 3–6 weeks around it.
EXHIBIT A
Every importer has received this PDF. Usually the day before. This one is generated from the calendar below for the next big closure, with the translation written in red pen.
HOLIDAY NOTICE
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your continuous support. Please be kindly informed that in celebration of the Spring Festival, our factory will be closed from — and will resume work on —.
Orders confirmed during the holiday will be arranged in sequence after we resume. Kindly arrange your orders in advance.
Wishing you and your family happiness and prosperity!
Sales Department
Some Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
FORM FO-00 · 2026—2028
Every official holiday, traditional festival, trade fair and slowdown season that will touch your order. Each one has two windows: official days off, and the factory reality (when your order actually stops).
month+ lost 2 weeks a week a few days slow replies today
Everyone ships for Christmas at once. Freight rates climb, containers get 'rolled' to the next vessel, space disappears.
“Shipping company rolled your container to next vessel.”
Seven days off; make-up workdays Sep 20 & Oct 10. The whole country goes on holiday, and the week after is spent remembering where the machines are.
“Golden Week, factory closed. We arrange your order after the holiday.”
Phase 1: Oct 15–19 · Phase 2: Oct 23–27 · Phase 3: Oct 31–Nov 4. Sales teams vanish into Guangzhou in shifts.
“I am at Canton Fair, will check with factory when I come back.”
The world's largest shopping event. Domestic parcels everywhere; your sample is in one of them, somewhere.
“Express delivery is very slow because of Double 11.”
Every buyer on earth wants goods shipped before Spring Festival. Capacity sells out, prices creep up, and quality control gets… optimistic.
“Production line is full until Chinese New Year, can we ship after?”
Rule of thumb: anything that must leave China before Spring Festival needs a confirmed PO and a paid deposit by about now. After this, you're negotiating for leftover capacity.
“Sorry, production schedule is full, we can only ship after Chinese New Year.”
Dumplings in the north, tangyuan in the south. Not a day off, but in Guangdong it's 'bigger than New Year' for some families.
“Today is Dongzhi, the boss leaves early for family dinner.”
The one day the roles flip: your supplier is working and you are the one not replying. Enjoy it.
“Merry Christmas! Are you on holiday? We are still working, ha ha.”
Falls on a Friday, so expect a long weekend. Official schedule TBA.
“New Year holiday, we start Monday.”
Laba porridge, and the traditional start of New Year preparations. Your order is no longer a priority; going home is.
“After Laba everyone is thinking about going home, please understand.”
Around three weeks before CNY, ports and trucking jam, workers leave and freight rates peak. Goods not loaded by about now will probably celebrate New Year in the warehouse.
“Container is booked for next week, but the truck driver went home.”
Roughly 40 days of the largest annual human migration on Earth. Billions of trips. Your factory's workforce is in several of them.
“Workers already bought train tickets, we cannot keep them.”
Jan 30 in the north, Jan 31 in the south. By now most production lines are winding down.
“Factory has small team now, big team after holiday.”
New Year's Day is Saturday Feb 6; Eve is Friday Feb 5. Official days off are TBA (State Council usually publishes in Nov–Dec) — expect roughly a 8–9 day break. Factories: plan for 3–6 weeks.
“We will ship right after Chinese New Year.”
Factories reopen at partial capacity. A share of workers don't come back at all, new ones need training, and everyone's backlog is first in line.
“Factory is open but workers not all back yet, maybe two more weeks.”
The traditional end of New Year. Many factories only truly restart after this.
“Workers come back after Lantern Festival.”
Falls on a Monday. Likely Sat–Mon off. Official schedule TBA.
“Qingming holiday, we reply on Tuesday.”
Expected in the usual mid-April to early-May slot, in three phases.
“Sorry for late reply, I am at Canton Fair this week.”
Expected May 1–5 with weekend make-up days. Official schedule TBA.
“May Day holiday, production resumes on the 6th.”
Falls on a Wednesday — so the State Council will do something creative with weekends. Exact days off TBA.
“Dragon Boat holiday, we eat zongzi and come back Monday.”
Domestic e-commerce mega-sale. Couriers and packaging suppliers are slammed.
“Domestic logistics very busy because of 618.”
Real port closures in the south-east. Check the actual typhoon track before accepting this one.
“Typhoon is coming, port is closed.”
Holiday-season inventory all ships at once. Book freight early, expect rate surcharges.
“Shipping company rolled your container to next vessel.”
If it must ship before October, confirm now. Mid-Autumn (Sep 15) and Golden Week (Oct 1–7) are back to back, and peak shipping season is still on.
“Before National Day everything is very busy, can we ship after the holiday?”
Falls on a Wednesday. Mooncakes guaranteed; exact days off TBA.
“Happy Mid-Autumn! We send you mooncakes, not the samples.”
Oct 1–7, as every year. Make-up workdays TBA. Plan as if the first half of October doesn't exist.
“Golden Week, factory closed. We arrange your order after the holiday.”
Expected mid-October to early November, three phases.
“I am at Canton Fair, will check with factory when I come back.”
Spring Festival 2028 falls on Jan 26 — early. That drags the entire pre-CNY panic forward into November. You have been warned a year in advance.
“Chinese New Year is early this year, production is full already.”
Domestic parcels everywhere. International samples take the scenic route.
“Express delivery is very slow because of Double 11.”
CNY 2028 is early (Jan 26), so the cut-off moves two weeks earlier than you're used to. Calendar-reminder this one.
“Chinese New Year is early this year, production is full already.”
Family dinner night. Not a day off.
“Today is Dongzhi, the boss leaves early for family dinner.”
Your supplier is working. You are not. Savour the irony.
“Merry Christmas! Are you on holiday? We are still working, ha ha.”
Early CNY. Projected from the lunar calendar; official dates TBA in late 2027.
“We will ship right after Chinese New Year.”
End of New Year festivities.
“Workers come back after Lantern Festival.”
Dates marked TBA are projected from the lunar calendar. China's State Council publishes the official schedule (with its famous weekend make-up workdays) usually in November or December of the previous year. Last checked .
FORM FO-01
Your supplier quoted a lead time. Let's apply the calendar, the shipping lane and a lifetime of experience to it.
Fill in the form. We'll do the crying.
APPENDIX B
Every sentence is true. Just not in the way you hoped.
MACHINE NO. 3 · DO NOT TOUCH
An unlimited supply, assembled from real excuses received by real buyers. Copy one and forward it to your own boss. The supply chain flows downhill.
Excuses generated this visit: 0
GAME · 5 × 5
Tap a square when you hear it. Five in a row and you've earned a share card, plus probably a new supplier.
0 / 24 excuses received.
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THE UNOFFICIAL ALMANAC
Observed worldwide by everyone who has ever placed a purchase order. Not in the calendar file, because they're on every day of the year.
NO SIGN-UP · NO EMAIL · NO SPAM
Subscribe once. Every holiday and slowdown window shows up in your calendar, with alerts two weeks before the big ones, so you hear about it before your supplier mentions it.
FREQUENTLY ASKED (BY YOUR CFO)
Half. The dates are real: official PRC public holidays, lunar festivals, trade fairs and logistics seasons, all researched and checked. The commentary is sarcasm, aimed squarely at the global supply chain experience. Anything in "The Unofficial Almanac" is satire.
No. These holidays are real, deserved, and older than your company. Spring Festival is the one time a year hundreds of millions of people get to go home. The joke is on us: buyers who place orders in December and act surprised in February. Plan for the calendar and you'll have a much better relationship with your supplier.
The State Council sets the official days off, often swapped with weekend "make-up workdays". Factories run on their own clock. Migrant workers leave days or weeks early to travel home, and restart takes days or weeks after reopening. The reality window is when your order actually stalls, and that's the one to plan around.
Saturday, February 6, 2027: the start of the Year of the Goat. New Year's Eve is Friday, February 5, and the Lantern Festival that ends the season is Saturday, February 20, 2027. The official days off are expected around February 5–13 (the State Council confirms the exact dates in late 2026).
The official break is about 8–9 days, but most factories close for 2–4 weeks: roughly January 28 to February 20, 2027, with production winding down from about January 23. Full capacity usually returns by mid-March, because some workers don't come back and new hires need training. Plan for six weeks of disruption.
Have a confirmed PO and a paid deposit by about December 1, 2026 for anything that must ship before the holiday, and aim to have goods loaded in a container by about January 15, 2027. Orders placed after early December will usually ship after the Lantern Festival.
New Year's Day (January 1), Spring Festival (February 6, about 8–9 days off), Qingming Festival (April 5), Labour Day (May 1–5), Dragon Boat Festival (June 9), Mid-Autumn Festival (September 15) and National Day Golden Week (October 1–7). Exact days off and weekend make-up workdays are announced by the State Council. See the full China holiday list for 2026–2027.
There are two. National Day Golden Week runs October 1–7 every year (in 2026, with make-up workdays on September 20 and October 10). Labour Day Golden Week runs around May 1–5. Factories and offices close, and production typically loses about a week on either side.
The festival dates are fixed by the lunar calendar (CNY 2027 is February 6), but the exact days off and make-up workdays are announced by the State Council, usually in November or December. We'll update the site and the calendar feed when it's published. If you subscribed, it updates itself.
Partly. Lunar New Year, Mid-Autumn and Dragon Boat are observed there too, but the official schedules differ. This calendar follows mainland China (PRC), which is where most factories are.
It walks forward day by day from your order date, pausing production on every day inside a "factory reality" window, and scales the quoted lead time by your experience level. It then adds ~5 days for QC, packing and trucking to port (also paused during closures) and the transit time for your lane. It's a planning heuristic, not a promise. Then again, neither was your supplier's quote.
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