Every Holiday API Gets China Wrong - Here's How I Fixed It
Before every Chinese New Year, backend developer groups see the same question:"Is February 14th a workday or not?"The answer:Yes, it's a workday. It's a "调休补班" — a Saturday, but you have to go to the. . .
Before every Chinese New Year, backend developer groups see the same question:"Is February 14th a workday or not?"The answer:Yes, it's a workday. It's a "调休补班" — a Saturday, but you have to go to the office. The ProblemMainstream holiday APIs (Calendarific, HolidayAPI. com, Abstract API, Nager. Date) all cover 200+ countries' public holidays. But they share one blind spot when it comes to China:They only return official holidays. They don't handle adjusted workdays (调休补班). China's 2026 holiday schedule (source: State Council notice, Nov 4, 2025):New Year: Jan 1-3 (3 days off), Jan 4 (Sun) = workday Spring Festival: Feb 15-23 (9 days off), Feb 14 (Sat) & Feb 28 (Sat) = workdays Labor Day: May 1-5 (5 days off), May 9 (Sat) = workday National Day: Oct 1-7 (7 days off), Sep 20 (Sun) & Oct 10 (Sat) = workdaysEnter fullscreen modeExit fullscreen modeThat means 2026 has6 weekend days where you must go to work. If you query 2026-02-14 with any mainstream API://OtherAPIsreturn:{"date":"2026-02-14","weekday":"Saturday","type":"weekend"}//❌Wrong!Thisisanadjustedworkday—youhavetowork//Correctresponseshouldbe:{"date":"2026-02-14","weekday":"Saturday","type":"adjusted_workday","is_workday":true}Enter fullscreen modeExit fullscreen modeIf your app involves scheduling, attendance tracking, order ETA, or cron job logic — this error causes:No staff scheduled on adjusted workdays → uncovered shiftsAttendance system marks employees as absent on workdaysOrder ETA miscalculated by a dayCron jobs fire (or don't fire) incorrectlyThe SolutionI builtGlobal Holidays API— on RapidAPI, covering 501 countries/regions,with China's adjusted workdays as exclusive data. Data source: Official State Council annual notices, manually maintained, accurate to every single day. Key FeaturesFeatureDescriptionOther APIsChina adjusted workdaysWeekend make-up work days returnis_workday: true❌ ExclusiveWorkday checkingOne call to check if a date is a workday (with adjusted workday logic)Partial501 countriesBased on python-holidays open-source librarySimilarUS state-level holidays57 subdivisions with state-specific holidaysPaid onlyDate range analysisInput start/end dates, get workday/holiday/weekend countsRareNext holiday finderFind the next public holiday for any countryRareUsage (Python)importrequests# Your RapidAPI API KeyAPI_KEY="your_rapidapi_key"headers={"X-RapidAPI-Key":API_KEY,"X-RapidAPI-Host":"global-holidays-api3. p. rapidapi. com"}# 1. Check if 2026-02-14 is a workdayresp=requests. get("https://global-holidays-api3. p. rapidapi. com/is-workday/CN/2026-02-14",headers=headers)print(resp. json())# {"date": "2026-02-14", "weekday": "Saturday", "type": "adjusted_workday", # "name": "调休补班", "is_workday": true, "source": "china_override"}# 2. Get all China adjusted workdays for 2026resp=requests. get("https://global-holidays-api3. p. rapidapi. com/china/adjusted-workdays/2026",headers=headers)print(resp. json())# {"count": 6, "adjusted_workdays": [ # {"date": "2026-01-04", "name": "调休补班", "weekday": "Sunday"}, # {"date": "2026-02-14", "name": "调休补班", "weekday": "Saturday"}, # {"date": "2026-02-28", "name": "调休补班", "weekday": "Saturday"}, # {"date": "2026-05-09", "name": "调休补班", "weekday": "Saturday"}, # {"date": "2026-09-20", "name": "调休补班", "weekday": "Sunday"}, # {"date": "2026-10-10", "name": "调休补班", "weekday": "Saturday"}, # ]}# 3. Count workdays in a date rangeresp=requests. get("https://global-holidays-api3. p. rapidapi. com/date-range/CN",headers=headers,params={"start":"2026-02-12","end":"2026-02-17"})print(resp. json()["workdays"])# 2Enter fullscreen modeExit fullscreen modeUsage (cURL)# Check if 2026-02-14 is a workdaycurl"https://global-holidays-api3. p. rapidapi. com/is-workday/CN/2026-02-14"\-H"X-RapidAPI-Key: your_key"\-H"X-RapidAPI-Host: global-holidays-api3. p. rapidapi. com"# Get California state holidays (includes Cesar Chavez Day, Diwali, etc. )curl"https://global-holidays-api3. p. rapidapi. com/holidays/US/2026?subdiv=CA"\-H"X-RapidAPI-Key: your_key"\-H"X-RapidAPI-Host: global-holidays-api3. p. rapidapi. com"Enter fullscreen modeExit fullscreen modeReal-World ScenariosScenario 1: Attendance System# Check if employees need to clock in todayresult=client. is_workday("CN","2026-02-14")ifresult["is_workday"]:# It's a workday — enable clock-inpasselse:# It's a holidaypassEnter fullscreen modeExit fullscreen modeScenario 2: Order ETA Calculation# Count actual workdays between two datesresult=client. date_range("CN",start="2026-02-12",end="2026-02-18")workdays=result["workdays"]# Get actual workday count # Use for order delivery estimateEnter fullscreen modeExit fullscreen modeScenario 3: Skip Cron Jobs on Holidays# Run daily at 9am, but skip on holidaysresult=client. is_workday("CN","2026-02-16")ifnotresult["is_workday"]:continue# It's a holiday — skipdo_daily_task()Enter fullscreen modeExit fullscreen modeComparison with CompetitorsThis APICalendarificHolidayAPI. comAbstract APICountries501230+250190+China adjusted workdays✅ Exclusive❌❌❌US state-level✅ FreePaid$399/yrPaidWorkday checking✅❌❌PartialDate range analysis✅❌❌❌Free tier1,000/mo500/mo1,000/mo1,000/moCheapest paid$10/mo$8. 3/mo$20. 75/mo$99/moPricingPlanPriceQuotaBasicFree1,000 requests/monthPro ⭐ Recommended$10/month10,000 requests/monthUltra$25/month50,000 requests/monthMega$100/month500,000 requests/monthFree tier works without a credit card. Get StartedVisitGlobal Holidays API on RapidAPISubscribe to the Free plan (1,000 requests/month, no credit card)Get your API keyStart coding with the examples aboveFound this useful? Give it a ⭐ on RapidAPI! Found a data error? Submit feedback directly on the API docs page — I'll fix it ASAP. 🔗https://rapidapi. com/cdd3544/api/global-holidays-api3