Hong Kong Lunar Calendar Holidays: Why Dates Shift Every Year
If you plan deadlines more than a few months ahead in Hong Kong, you will eventually be caught out by a holiday that was not where you expected it. That is because 8 of Hong Kong's 17 General Holidays follow the Chinese lunar calendar, which does not align neatly with the Gregorian calendar.
Add three Easter-based holidays that also shift each year, and 11 of 17 General Holidays have variable dates.
Which holidays are fixed and which move
Fixed-date holidays (6 holidays)
These fall on the same Gregorian date every year:
| Holiday | Date |
|---|---|
| New Year's Day | 1 January |
| Labour Day | 1 May |
| HKSAR Establishment Day | 1 July |
| National Day | 1 October |
| Christmas Day | 25 December |
| First weekday after Christmas | 26 December |
Easter-based holidays (3 holidays)
Easter follows the Western ecclesiastical calendar and shifts each year:
| Holiday | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Good Friday | 3 April | 26 March |
| Day following Good Friday | 4 April | 27 March |
| Easter Monday | 6 April | 29 March |
Lunar calendar holidays (8 holidays)
These follow the Chinese lunisolar calendar:
| Holiday | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Lunar New Year's Day | 17 February | 6 February |
| Second day of Lunar New Year | 18 February | 7 February |
| Third day of Lunar New Year | 19 February | 8 February |
| Ching Ming Festival | 5 April (Sun → sub 7 Apr) | 5 April |
| Birthday of the Buddha | 24 May (Sun → sub 25 May) | 13 May |
| Tuen Ng Festival | 19 June | 9 June |
| Day following Mid-Autumn Festival | 7 October | 26 September |
| Chung Yeung Festival | 19 October | 8 October |
Why the dates move
The Chinese calendar is lunisolar — months follow the moon's cycle (roughly 29.5 days each), but the calendar also tracks the solar year through a system of leap months inserted every few years.
This means Chinese calendar dates drift relative to Gregorian dates, but within a bounded range. For example, Lunar New Year always falls between 21 January and 20 February.
Ching Ming is an exception — it is defined by the solar term qīngmíng and typically falls on 4 or 5 April, making it more predictable than the purely lunar holidays.
Year-to-year comparison: 2026 vs 2027
The shift between years can be significant:
| Holiday | 2026 | 2027 | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNY Day 1 | 17 Feb (Tue) | 6 Feb (Sat) | 11 days earlier |
| Tuen Ng | 19 Jun (Fri) | 9 Jun (Wed) | 10 days earlier |
| Mid-Autumn +1 | 7 Oct (Wed) | 26 Sep (Sun) | 11 days earlier |
| Chung Yeung | 19 Oct (Mon) | 8 Oct (Fri) | 11 days earlier |
An 11-day shift in the Mid-Autumn Festival means a deadline that comfortably cleared the holiday in 2026 might land right on top of it in 2027.
Why this matters for deadline planning
If you set recurring deadlines, annual milestones, or multi-year project timelines, the variable holidays create three specific risks:
Year-to-year template reuse. A deadline that fell on a working day in 2026 might fall on a holiday in 2027. You cannot copy last year's dates and assume they still work.
Holiday clustering. In 2026, Ching Ming falls during the Easter cluster (3–7 April), creating five consecutive non-working days. In 2027, Easter is in March and Ching Ming stands alone. The clustering effect changes every year.
Substitution-day surprises. When a lunar holiday falls on Sunday, the substitute holiday can cascade into the following week. In 2026, the Ching Ming substitute (7 April) extends the Easter break by an extra day.
Practical approach
For any deadline more than 3 months away:
- Check the gazetted holiday list for the relevant year (published annually by GovHK)
- Do not rely on the previous year's dates
- Run the calculation through a tool that uses the correct year's holiday data
- If the deadline is close to a variable holiday, run a sensitivity check
The HK calculator uses the gazetted holiday list for each supported year, so working-day counts automatically reflect the correct lunar calendar dates.