Holiday calendar (Excel format) with instructions Daily info (.txt format) Monthly info (.txt format)
The calendar starts from 1973 through 2008, during which China implements the policy of six working day week, five and half working day week, five working day week, and the Golden-week holiday.
The four holidays in China are New Year (Jan. 1st), Chinese New Year (varies every year), Labor day (May 1st), and National day (Oct. 1st).
Before March 1, 1994, people work six days a week, plus those holidays. They got one day off for each of the four holidays. If the holiday happens to fall on the weekend, which is only Sunday because of the six working day, the following Monday is off.
Starting from March 1, 1994, china started five and a half working day, so the first weekend after March 1st, people got both Saturday and Sunday off, and for the following weekend, they only got Sunday.
Starting from May 1st, 1995, china started five working day, from then on people started to take both Saturday and Sunday off (State Council article #174)
Not until Oct. 1 1999, did Golden weeks start, so the first one happened on National day 1999. Under this new system, people take seven consecutive days off during the Chinese New Year, Labor day, and National day. However, two normal non-working days (weekend) become working so the effective length of the holidays is three days.
In the data linked above, I assumed if the first day of a three-day holiday period falls on Mon, Tue, or Wed, then the previous weekend becomes working. On the other hand, if it falls on Thu, Fri, or Sat, then the following weekend becomes working. Finally, if it falls on Sun, the two Saturdays around it becomes working. This way, it always become a seven-day consecutive holiday peroid.
Let me know if the holidays are scheduled differently. I am least sure about the case when the first day of the holiday falls on Thu. The rule may even vary from year to year.