China's National Day: What Golden Week Means in Shanghai — and How to Survive It

Every 1 October, China marks the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In Shanghai, that means flags along the streets, packed railway stations, illuminated skylines and the beginning of one of the biggest travel weeks on earth. Below is some insight into why National Day matters — and what Golden Week actually means if you’re living in Shanghai (and China).

There is a particular moment in Shanghai at the end of September when you realise Golden Week is coming.

Chinese flags begin appearing along major roads. Shopping malls roll out National Day displays. Colleagues start asking one another, “Are you doing anything for the holiday?” High-speed rail tickets suddenly become the most valuable commodity in your WeChat groups.

Then you’re checking for your last minute train to Beijing and realize there are no tickets left…If you are unlucky enough to have been at Hongqiao train station around the holiday period, you will be aware that it can feel like half of Shanghai (aka millions of people) has collectively decided to leave town.

Welcome to National Day — 国庆节 (Guóqìngjié) — and Golden Week, the annual October holiday that combines political history, mass travel, family reunions, tourism and consumer spending on a scale that is difficult to appreciate until you experience it.

China's National Day falls on 1 October every year, commemorating the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

In 2026, the official mainland holiday runs from Thursday 1 October to Wednesday 7 October meaning that for people working in traditional office jobs, you will have a whopping 7 days off! You may however need to work one of our beloved ‘make-up days’. For most people, Sunday 20th September and Saturday 10th October are designated working days in 2026.

Yes, Saturday the 10th is a workday. Woo.

So, what exactly is National Day?

The story begins more than 1,000km north of Shanghai.

On 1st October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China from Tiananmen in Beijing. Later that year, 1st October was formally designated as National Day, beginning an annual commemoration that has now continued for more than seven decades.

The flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square in Beijing — the symbolic centre of National Day

Beijing remains the symbolic centre of the occasion. Tiananmen Square's early-morning flag-raising ceremony attracts enormous crowds, while major anniversaries have been marked by elaborate ceremonies and military parades.

But for most people living in China, contemporary National Day is about something much more familiar: having a holiday.

And that is where Golden Week comes in.

How one day became seven

National Day wasn't always synonymous with an enormous week-long getaway.

The modern Golden Week system emerged in 1999, when China expanded the National Day holiday arrangement as part of a broader effort to encourage domestic tourism and consumption. The change transformed 1st October.

What had primarily been a national commemoration became the starting gun for one of China's biggest annual travel periods.

For millions of people, the holiday provides enough consecutive time off to visit family, take a proper trip or simply escape their home city for a few days.

For Shanghai residents, that might mean a short high-speed rail trip to Hangzhou or Suzhou, a short hop over to Yunnan or Sichuan, a flight to Japan or Thailand — or the increasingly appealing option of staying exactly where you are.

Because the numbers involved are enormous, and most people now know that sometimes a luscious getaway is simply not worth the pushing, shoving and shuffling amongt the crowds we all love to hate.

Just how big is Golden Week?

Consider this.

During the combined National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in 2025, China recorded 888 million domestic tourist trips in eight days, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Domestic tourism spending apparently reached roughly RMB 809 billion.

China's Ministry of Transport, using a broader measure that counts cross-regional passenger movements, recorded approximately 2.43 billion passenger trips over the same period.

That does not mean 2.43 billion different people went on holiday — the datasets measure different kinds of journeys — but still it gives some sense of the scale. Even if we say every one person accounted for every 10 of those trips, that would mean there were over 243 million people travelling.

POV: You're travelling in China during Golden Week — a packed railway station during the October holiday

This is why Golden Week can occasionally make Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station look less like a transport hub and more like a small country attempting to relocate.

Shanghai, being one of China's largest transport hubs and home to its most populous urban centres, is simultaneously a major departure point and a major destination.

Residents head out.

Tourists pour in.

And somewhere in between, somebody is trying desperately to get a last-minute train ticket to Hangzhou…

What happens to Shanghai during Golden Week?

Shanghai doesn't shut down for National Day.

Quite the opposite.

Restaurants, shopping centres, tourist attractions and entertainment venues generally remain open (although may have reduced opening hours), while the city's best-known areas receive large numbers of domestic visitors.

Expect particularly heavy foot traffic around the Bund, Nanjing East Road, Yuyuan, People’s Square, Lujiazui and other headline attractions.

The Bund is the obvious example.

It is already one of China's most famous urban viewpoints. Add a national holiday and a few hundred thousand visitors eager for the classic Pudong skyline photograph and things become considerably more intense.

Nanjing East Road can be similarly busy, while Yuyuan's combination of traditional architecture, food and evening atmosphere makes it a natural Golden Week magnet.

Shanghai authorities routinely introduce crowd-control and traffic measures around heavily visited areas during major holidays, so metro exits, roads and pedestrian routes can operate differently from normal.

The practical rule is simple:

If somewhere is on every first-time visitor's Shanghai itinerary, assume it will be busy during Golden Week.

But here's the strange part: Shanghai can also feel wonderfully quiet

Golden Week has a Shanghai paradox.

The tourist centre gets busier.

Some residential neighbourhoods get quieter.

A large number of Shanghai residents leave the city for the holiday, and office districts empty out. Step away from the Bund-Nanjing Road-Yuyuan tourist axis and the atmosphere can change surprisingly quickly.

This is one reason staying in Shanghai for Golden Week is not necessarily the consolation prize it sounds like.

A slow morning around the Former French Concession, coffee on a residential street, a long lunch, a riverside cycle or an afternoon in one of the city's less famous museums can be genuinely pleasant when there is substantially less people around.

What does National Day actually look like in Shanghai?

Don't expect Shanghai to become a week-long street festival.

National Day is more atmospheric than that.

Chinese flags appear along roads and outside buildings. Shopping centres install elaborate red-and-gold displays. Public spaces receive floral decorations. Landmarks and commercial districts carry National Day messages.

National Day floral decorations — red-and-gold displays and "国庆" (Guóqìng) signage in a public park

At night, Shanghai's skyline provides the obvious backdrop.

The Bund and Lujiazui become especially photogenic during holiday periods, when the city's already formidable collection of illuminated buildings takes on an added celebratory atmosphere.

Fireworks, drone performances, special light shows and temporary installations depend on official programming and can change from year to year.

Check current announcements before travelling across the city specifically for one.

Should you go to the Bund?

At least once? Probably.

During Golden Week? Probably not, unless at dusk. See: https://www.shanghaidirectory.com/article/best-things-to-do-in-shanghai-golden-week

If you're visiting Shanghai for the first time, the Bund remains extraordinary: one side of the Huangpu River lined with historic early-20th-century architecture, the other dominated by the futuristic skyline of Lujiazui.

National Day adds atmosphere.

It also adds people.

A good alternative is to experience the skyline from the Pudong side of the Huangpu, where the riverside promenade around Lujiazui gives you the Bund itself as the view.

The stretch near the Museum of Art Pudong is particularly good around sunset.

You still get the unmistakable Shanghai panorama.

You may also retain some personal space.

The Shanghai Directory way to do Golden Week

If you’re in Shanghai for the holiday, don't try to “beat” Golden Week.

Work around it. If you live in Shanghai, read here: https://www.shanghaidirectory.com/article/best-things-to-do-in-shanghai-golden-week If you are travelling to Shanghai, follow the below:

1. Save the blockbuster sights for early morning

If you absolutely want Yuyuan, Nanjing East Road or another major attraction, go early.

Golden Week is not the week for a leisurely 1:30pm arrival at one of China's most famous tourist sites.

2. Use the holiday to explore neighbourhood Shanghai

This is arguably the better option.

Walk Wukang Road and Anfu Road. Explore the quieter streets around Xuhui. Spend an afternoon around Wuding Road and Yanping Road. Wander the old lanes and newer cafés around Jing'an.

Shanghai is at its best when you stop treating it as a checklist of landmarks.

Golden Week is an excellent time to test that theory.

3. Head for the river — just not necessarily the Bund

Shanghai has kilometres of Huangpu riverfront.

Try North Bund, stretches of the West Bund, or the Pudong waterfront instead of automatically joining the crowds at the city's most famous viewing platform.

Bring coffee. Walk. Cycle. Watch the city light up.

Much better.Also feel free to head over to Suzhou Creek! Not quite as well-know as the Huangpu River, thus much more quaint and serene.

4. Make reservations

This applies to restaurants as much as attractions.

The neighbourhood may look quiet at 4pm and somehow every desirable table can still be occupied at 7.30pm.

For somewhere popular, reserve ahead.

5. Take a day trip — carefully

Shanghai's location in the Yangtze River Delta makes it almost unfairly good for short trips.

Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Jiaxing and Nanjing are all accessible by rail.

Unfortunately, several million other people are aware of this.

If you have already secured your train tickets, excellent.

If you're reading this on 2nd October and thinking, “Maybe we could just pop over to Hangzhou tomorrow?”

Check the ticket situation before getting emotionally attached to the idea.

And if you're leaving Shanghai…

Book early.

This is the most important piece of Golden Week advice we can give.

China's high-speed railway network makes an extraordinary number of destinations accessible from Shanghai, but that convenience creates enormous demand.

The most desirable trains around the beginning and end of the holiday can be difficult to secure.

Flights become expensive.

Popular hotels fill.

Major attractions introduce reservation quotas.

Spontaneity is wonderful on a Tuesday in November.

During Golden Week, spontaneity can mean spending your holiday refreshing 12306.

We personally advise against domestic travel during Golden Week due to the amount of other travellers around.

Why National Day matters beyond the holiday

For foreigners living in Shanghai, it is easy to experience Golden Week primarily as a nice break from work.

But National Day itself carries a much deeper significance.

It marks the establishment of the People's Republic of China on 1st October 1949 and remains one of the country's most important civic occasions.

Seventy-seven years later, however, what makes National Day particularly fascinating is the number of different Chinas visible within the same week.

There is the official China of flags, ceremonies and national history.

There is the family China of reunions, weddings and trips home.

There is the consumer China filling hotels, restaurants, airports and shopping centres.

And then there is the China many of us know from Shanghai: checking train availability on a phone, debating whether that trip to Yunnan is really worth it with the prices, and deciding that perhaps a neighbourhood restaurant and a relaxed stroll around the current ghost town sounds better after all.

National Day is all of those things at once.

Which is why, whether you're leaving Shanghai or staying put, Golden Week is worth experiencing at least once.

Just perhaps not from the middle of East Nanjing Road at 7pm.

National Day 2026: the Shanghai essentials

• National Day: Thursday, 1 October 2026
• Mainland holiday: 1–7 October
• Working-day adjustments: 20 September and Saturday 10 October are designated working days.
• Chinese name: 国庆节 (Guóqìngjié)
• What it marks: The founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.
• Last year's scale: 888 million domestic tourist trips and roughly RMB809 billion in domestic tourism spending during the eight-day 2025 National Day/Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.
• Expect the biggest Shanghai crowds around: the Bund, Nanjing East Road, Yuyuan and other major visitor attractions.
• Staying in Shanghai? Explore neighbourhoods, smaller museums and the city's less famous sections of riverfront rather than spending the entire week chasing headline attractions. Follow our guide to the best things to do in Shanghai during Golden Week.
• Leaving Shanghai? Book trains, flights, hotels and major attractions as early as possible — including the journey home.

Our final rule: Golden Week Shanghai is perfectly manageable. Just be aware that it may be better to stay in the city we know and love, rather than travelling. But hey, different strokes an all that!