When the clock strikes midnight, it’ll be yet another public holiday in China – Labor Day (劳动节 – láo dòng jié), more commonly referred to as “Five-One” (五一 – wǔ yī). This used to be one of three “Golden Weeks” (黄金周 – huáng jīn zhōu) in China, along with the Spring Festival and National Day, but the government decided to shorten the Labor Day holiday and add a few additional days off as well, such as Tomb Sweeping Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although it’s technically a short holiday, college students get to enjoy the Chinese version of Spring Break at this time (not nearly as rowdy or fun as the American version), and many workers manage to get a long weekend. Sure, they need to work the weekend before the holiday just to get a few extra days off, but apparently that still counts as a long holiday. Chinese logic (or lack thereof) can be hard to understand at times. As such, train stations, bus stations, airports, and highways experience severe congestion, and popular travel spots are packed to the brim with tourists. People fight for tickets, and then fight the crowds on their “vacation” only to come back to work on Monday feeling more exhausted than they were before they left. And you wonder why a lot of Chinese people seem stressed out and on edge year-round – they never really seem to get an actual, proper holiday. Although these holiday crowds drive me crazy, I’ve managed to have some interesting experiences on May 1st holidays in years past. Here are some highlights:

Yi Xian Music Festival:

At a Chinese music festival.

One year, some friends and I headed out on an adventure to try and find the so-called Yi Xian Camping Music Festival in the outskirts of Beijing. We ended up getting completely lost and sleeping in a KTV (karaoke) bar, but in the end we found the festival and had a very silly weekend. You can read all about it here: Part One, Part Two.

Dalian:

Last year, we headed to the coastal city of Dalian so we could check Liaoning province off of our China travel list and see what all the fuss is about (many students told us what a great city Dalian was). Needless to say, we didn’t enjoy it as much as our students seemed to. The place we booked had no record of our reservation, there were huge crowds everywhere, and we got stuck on a terrible Chinese tour group. We managed to make the best of it, though, and at least put together some interesting videos:

See what the Labor Day crowds look like in a popular coastal city.

I teach you how to survive a horrible Chinese tour group in this one.

As you can see from my past experiences, it might just be better to stay put during these busy Chinese holidays…