China's 2026 National Day holiday ran together with the Mid-Autumn Festival, creating an extended 13-day break from September 25 to October 7. During this period, local governments and cultural tourism departments across the country rolled out a wide range of traditional-culture programming, from intangible-heritage exhibitions to folk-themed garden fairs, filling cities with a strong festive atmosphere. This wave of activity is closely tied to China's ongoing project to pass on and develop its excellent traditional culture, with officials repeatedly stressing the need to nurture cultural confidence and give traditional festivals and folk customs new vitality in modern life.

Beijing offers a representative example. Across the capital, 75 parks, scenic spots and museums jointly rolled out 252 cultural and tourism activities spanning ten categories, including flower viewing, performing arts, intangible-heritage experiences, science education and family activities. Specific events included the 'Lugou Moon' Mid-Autumn Culture Festival at the Lugou Bridge and Wanping Town, featuring immersive programs such as a Mid-Autumn poetry gathering that blended culture, commerce and tourism; the 'Yanqing World Garden, Moonlit Capital' Mid-Autumn garden fair at Yanqing's World Horticultural Expo Park, inviting residents to a traditional-style cultural gathering; a Mid-Autumn and National Day lantern fair at Shougang Park, set amid former industrial facilities with both land-based and waterside markets; a creative-goods market themed 'Flowers Bloom at the Summer Palace' at the Summer Palace, where 25 themed stalls showcased intangible-heritage handicrafts and garden-themed designs; and the 'Guarding Craft Across Mountains and Rivers' intangible-heritage garden fair at Fenghuangling scenic area, held from October 1 to 5, which highlighted traditional skills and folk culture.

National-level cultural symbols were also a focal point of the holiday. The 2026 Mid-Autumn Festival Gala of China Media Group was held on the evening of September 25 in Huainan, Anhui province, broadcast simultaneously on CCTV's general, variety, international and opera channels. The gala drew inspiration from xuan paper, a national-level intangible cultural heritage, building a floating stage on a lake described as 'a scroll of xuan paper painting the Huai moon,' and for the first time deployed a large-scale drone formation together with a movable full-moon installation dozens of meters in diameter. The show was structured in three chapters — 'Touring the Moon,' 'Embracing the Stars' and 'Shining Autumn' — and incorporated multiple intangible cultural heritage elements such as flower-drum lantern dance, shadow puppetry and a tofu banquet. Organizers chose Huainan as the main venue because the city's classical text Huainanzi contains the earliest written record of the Chang'e moon myth and the 24 solar terms, underscoring the gala's creative approach of 'bringing intangible heritage to life.'

These activities are a concrete expression of the 'Opinions on Implementing the Project to Pass On and Develop China's Excellent Traditional Culture,' issued jointly by the General Offices of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and the State Council. The document calls for a deeper articulation of the cultural meaning of traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ninth Festival, as well as plans to promote traditional Chinese ceremonial attire for festivals. During this year's National Day holiday, tourists interviewed in various regions said that cultural elements such as hanfu (traditional Chinese clothing) and ancient architecture gave them a strong sense of cultural confidence and national pride, with some visitors traveling specifically along the Hexi Corridor to 'trace ancient footsteps' and experience the depth of traditional culture.

In Quanzhou, a city in Fujian province known as a major hometown of overseas Chinese, the National Day and Mid-Autumn holiday took on a distinctly folk character. Local cultural tourism authorities said that from late September through October 7, Quanzhou's old city and surrounding areas held more than 1,000 cultural and tourism events. These included a 'ten-thousand-people mooncake dice game' Mid-Autumn carnival at Zhongshan South Road and the Deji Gate heritage site plaza, drawing tens of thousands of residents and tourists to play the traditional dice game that originated in the Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou region and has been listed as intangible cultural heritage; a themed 'Overseas Chinese Culture Market' under the slogan 'One Maritime Silk Road Lineage, One Banquet Uniting Overseas Chinese Hearts,' exploring the region's maritime Silk Road history and its culture of qiaopi (remittance letters from overseas Chinese) and their families; and, in towns such as Anhai and Jinjiang, traditional Minnan folk performances including tower-burning rituals, martial arts, children's rhyme singing, Gaojia opera and glove puppetry. Because Quanzhou is the ancestral hometown of many overseas Chinese across Southeast Asia, these Mid-Autumn and National Day folk activities were also shared through overseas relatives' social networks, serving as an important emotional link between the hometown and its diaspora.

On the eve of National Day, the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, the China Overseas Friendship Association and the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese jointly held a National Day reception for overseas Chinese community representatives at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, marking the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and calling on overseas Chinese and returnee families to carry on their attachment to their homeland, continue to develop Chinese-language education abroad, and pass on the spirit of loving one's homeland and striving for national rejuvenation.

Given Thailand's close ties to China's overseas Chinese community, Bangkok itself hosted several Mid-Autumn and National Day themed cultural events during the same period. On September 19, a 'Faraway Places, Shared This Moment' Mid-Autumn cultural performance and experience event was held in Bangkok, supported by the Chinese Embassy in Thailand and jointly organized by Zhejiang province's culture and tourism authorities and the Bangkok China Cultural Center. On October 1, an 'All-Thailand Chinese Students Mid-Autumn and National Day Celebration Gala' was held in Bangkok, featuring instrumental music, dance, choral singing and traditional craft displays, with Confucius Institute-run cultural experience zones showcasing Mid-Autumn customs and traditional Chinese culture. The Tourism Authority of Thailand also held its own 'Amazing Thailand' Mid-Autumn celebration in Bangkok on September 25 and launched a related 'Nihao Month' program inviting 31 Chinese social media influencers for in-depth experiences of Thailand, further strengthening cultural and tourism ties between China and Thailand.

Overseas, Chinese community associations held coordinated Mid-Autumn and National Day celebrations around the world. The Association of Chinese Residents in France held a 'Moonlit Paris, Hearts Tied to China' themed celebration in Paris on the evening of September 19; Southern California's overseas Chinese community held a 'Welcoming Mid-Autumn, Celebrating National Day' gathering on September 20, attended by officials from the Chinese Consulate-General in Los Angeles along with more than 700 local overseas Chinese and community members; Philadelphia's Chinatown held Mid-Autumn celebrations on September 26 featuring dragon and lion dances, martial arts, taiko drumming, a lantern parade and a mooncake-eating contest, drawing an estimated 7,500 attendees; Chinese-American community groups in New York's Flushing neighborhood held the sixth edition of the 'China Day' Mid-Autumn cultural parade, drawing participants from many different ethnic communities; and San Francisco Chinatown's New Immigrant Service Center hosted a Mid-Autumn gathering for recent immigrants, featuring performances and a mooncake-cutting ceremony to ease homesickness. Chinese state media also reported similar gatherings and performances held by overseas Chinese communities in Mauritius, Peru, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Qatar, Myanmar, Japan, Malaysia, Hungary and Thailand, using mooncakes and shared hometown ties to promote cultural exchange between China and other countries.

Observers say that, from the wide variety of intangible-heritage fairs, lantern festivals and folk markets held across China to the parades and celebrations organized by overseas Chinese communities on their own initiative, these activities together reflect China's sustained push to build cultural confidence and revive traditional festivals, as well as the cohesion and international reach of Chinese culture around the world. As Golden Week travel and consumption data continue to be released, tourism officials expect traditional-culture programming to remain an important growth driver for the holiday economy.