China is a huge country with endless and affordable travel opportunities. During holidays, however, millions of migrant workers return home and millions of other Chinese travel within the country. Travelers may want to seriously consider scheduling to avoid being on the road or air during the major holidays. At the very least, travel should be planned well in advance. Every mode of transportation is crowded; tickets of any kind are hard to come by, so it may be necessary to book well in advance (especially for those traveling from remote western China to the east coast or in the opposite direction). Train and bus tickets are usually quite easy to buy in China (during the non-holiday season), but difficulties arising from crowded conditions at these times cannot be overstated. Travelers who are stranded at these times, unable to buy tickets, can sometimes manage to get airplane tickets, which tend to sell out more slowly because of the higher but still affordable (by western standards) prices. For the most comfortable mode of transportation, air travel is the obvious choice. There is an emerging ultra-modern bullet train network which is also very nice, but you may still have to deal with insanely overcrowded, smokefulled, cold, loud and disorganized train depots to get onboard. The spring festival (Chinese New Year) is the largest annual migration of people on earth.

China has five major annual holidays:

1.National Day - 1 October

2.Chinese New Year or Spring Festival - late January/mid-February

3.Labor Day or May Day - 1 May

4.Dragon Boat Festival - 5th day of the 5th lunar month, usually May-June
(16 June in 2010). Boat races and eating zongzi are a traditional parts of the celebration.

5.Mid-Autumn Day - 15th day of the 8th lunar month, usually October (22 Sep in 2010).
Also called the Moon Cake Festival after its signature treat, moon cakes . People meet outside,
putting food on tables and looking up at the full harvest moon while talking about life.

These are not one-day holidays; nearly all workers get at least a week for Chinese New Year, some get two or three, and students get four to six weeks. For Labor Day and National Day, a week is typical.