China Marketing Calendar: Shopping and Cultural Festivals in 2025
Planning to advertise in China in 2025? Plan ahead by setting your China marketing calendar to key shopping dates throughout the year, including 618, Black Friday, Double 11, and Double 12.
With established shopping habits formed around each of these annual events, brands can strategically position themselves to meet elevated demand during these periods.
To help you create an effective marketing strategy, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide to the 2025 China marketing calendar, complete with trending product categories for each occasion.
Understanding the Chinese marketing calendar
Excitement builds nationwide as each holiday approaches, driving a surge in both online and offline activity. From the pre-holiday buildup to the official start, brands can use ongoing content marketing to generate anticipation and awareness, capitalizing on the buzz to drive conversions on platforms like Douyin E-commerce during cultural holidays and shopping festivals.
Cultural holidays
Cultural holidays have a strong appeal in China, as consumers are attracted not only by discounts but also by the social and cultural significance of the occasion. The emotional connection tied to each holiday influences consumer behavior, which sparks demand for gift-giving, shopping and leisure activities, including travel and family reunions.
Cultural holidays include traditional holidays such as Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival, which coincide with a public holiday, and new cultural holidays adopted from overseas, including Valentine’s Day and Halloween.
Shopping festivals
Shopping festivals were originally introduced by platforms in partnership with online merchants. Over time, they have reshaped consumer behavior, driving massive, concentrated purchasing and sparking industry-wide consumption surges.
Strategically planned festival events can stimulate consistent growth. By leveraging key shopping festivals, brands can tap into exceptional opportunities that drive booming traffic and conversions, making these events crucial for elevating a brand’s business to the next level. Similarly, cultural holidays provide unique opportunities for brands to connect emotionally with consumers. By aligning with industry trends and consumer preferences, brands can achieve significant success. The ability to plan and execute events around these festivals allows businesses to maximize their impact and ensure sustained growth throughout the year.
The 2025 China marketing calendar
The following marketing calendar lists the key dates for brands seeking to ride the waves of seasonal surges and capitalize on the cultural and festive moments that drive consumer behavior.
January
- New Year’s Day – Jan 1
New Year’s Day marks the beginning of the Gregorian calendar year, and while it’s not a traditional Chinese holiday, it is a nationwide holiday and widely celebrated by the younger generation in China.
Marketing approach: Start the year with a fresh and positive marketing campaign. Consider promotions that resonate with the spirit of renewal, new beginnings, and resolutions.
February
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Lunar New Year – Jan 29-Feb 17
Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most significant traditional Chinese holiday. Each year, it is marked by a Chinese zodiac animal (e.g., Snake in 2025). It is also a time for red decorations (symbolizing luck) and gifting red envelopes with (red) 100 CNY notes inside or transferring money via digital red envelopes on social apps.
Families travel vast distances to reunite for reunions, feasts, and various cultural activities. Increasingly, some people, including the younger generation and high-income earners from Tier-1 cities, take an extended break from work as a precious opportunity to travel abroad.
Popular product categories include personal care, household cleaning, parenting, food, health, consumer electronics, home, jewelry, fashion, and luxury.
Marketing approach: Celebrate with red-themed promotions, incorporate traditional symbols, launch limited-edition products, and create special collections to tap into the cultural significance of Chinese New Year.
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Valentine’s Day – Feb 14
While not a traditional holiday, Valentine’s Day is widely observed in China. Couples exchange gifts and express love and affection, especially among Gen Z and Millennials.
Marketing approach: Appeal to the romantic spirit with promotions on gifts, luxury items, travel promotions, and experiences that resonate with the theme of romance.
March
- Women’s Day – Mar 8
Women’s Day celebrates the achievements and contributions of women. It is marked by events honoring women’s roles in society. Many companies in China host special activities, distribute small gifts, or allow all female employees to take the afternoon off work.
Popular product categories include clothing, shoes, bags, beauty, personal care, household cleaning, consumer electronics, home, jewelry, fashion, and luxury.
Marketing approach: Recognize and celebrate women with promotions that empower and appreciate. Focus promotions on products and services that appeal to women.
April
- Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day) – Apr 4-6
Qingming Festival involves honoring ancestors by cleaning and maintaining their graves. It’s also a time to enjoy the outdoors and appreciate the arrival of spring in China.
Marketing approach: As Qingming Festival isn’t a major consumer holiday, brands don’t normally dedicate significant marketing resources to this holiday.
May
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Labor Day – May 1-3
Labor Day honors the contributions of workers and professionals. Many people in China take the opportunity to travel or participate in leisure activities during this three-day holiday
Marketing approach: Recognize workers with promotions on work-related products, services, or professional development courses. Consider employee appreciation campaigns and corporate gifting.
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520 Valentine’s Day – May 20
In Chinese, the date “5/20” (Wǔ’èr líng) phonetically resembles the expression “I love you” (Wǒ ài nǐ). This date has gained popularity as a day for expressing love and affection, particularly among the younger generation. On this day, couples seize the opportunity to celebrate their love by exchanging gifts, presenting flowers and chocolates, and organizing romantic activities.
Popular product categories include personal care, household cleaning, parenting, food, health, jewelry, fashion, and luxury.
Marketing approach: Similar to Valentine’s Day, appeal to the romantic spirit with promotions on products and experiences that resonate with the theme of romance.
June
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Dragon Boat Festival – May 31-Jun 2
Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated with dragon boat races, eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and other festive foods. It pays homage to the ancient poet Qu Yuan.
Marketing approach: Highlight traditional elements in promotions, use dragon boat race themes, and consider interactive online events or games to engage your audience.
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618 Shopping Festival – Jun 18
The 618 Shopping Festival is a mid-year e-commerce shopping extravaganza featuring a wide range of discounts, promotions, and special offers, driving a surge in online shopping. Popular product categories include beauty, consumer electronics, home, jewelry, fashion, and luxury.
Marketing approach: Leverage the popularity of online shopping during this festival by offering exclusive deals, flash sales, and discounts on a variety of products. Collaborate with e-commerce platforms to maximize visibility and engage with the growing number of online shoppers during this period.
August
- Qixi (Chinese Valentine’s Day) – Aug 29
Also known as the Double Seventh Festival, Qixi is a traditional celebration of love and romance, often referred to as “Chinese Valentine’s Day”.
Marketing approach: Capitalize on themes of love and romance, offering promotions on gifts and experiences for couples.
October
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Mid-Autumn Festival + National Day – Oct 1-8
Mid-Autumn Festival emphasizes family reunions, symbolized by sharing mooncakes. It’s a time for unity and harmony.
Marketing approach: Focus on family-themed promotions, highlight mooncakes, and offer special promotions.
National Day marks the founding of the People’s Republic of China, celebrated with patriotic events and parades.
Popular product categories for this holiday include clothing, shoes, bags, parenting, personal care, consumer electronics, and home.
Marketing approach: Embrace the patriotic spirit with promotions, discounts, and special offers. Recognize the week-long celebration as a prime time for increased consumer activity and travel.
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Halloween – Oct 31
Halloween has gained immense popularity in many Asian countries, including China, especially among Gen Z and Millennials. Costume parties and themed events are common activities, particularly in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities.
Marketing approach: Tap into the growing interest in Halloween by offering themed products, costumes, and promotions.
November
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Double 11 – Nov 11
Double 11 or Singles’ Day is China’s largest online shopping day, marked by substantial discounts and promotions on a broad range of product categories. Popular product categories include clothing, shoes, bags, parenting, food, health, consumer electronics, home, jewelry, fashion, and luxury.
Marketing approach: Capitalize on the shopping frenzy with exclusive deals, creative marketing campaigns, and strategies to engage your target demographic during the build-up period and the official day. Consider collaborations with KOLs and creators to cut through the noise and reach your target audience.
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Black Friday – Nov 28
More e-commerce platforms and consumers have started to pay attention and participate in this iconic global shopping festival. There is a strong focus on the festival’s overseas origins, which creates a global ambiance and dovetails with growing consumer interest in specialty and high-quality products from overseas.
Marketing approach: Black Friday provides a focal point for brands and creators to promote high-quality content related to travel, global lifestyle trends, and overseas products.
Read about Black Friday on Douyin to learn more about how this holiday is celebrated in China.
December
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Double 12 – Dec 12
According to the China marketing calendar, Double 12 follows Singles’ Day, offering another opportunity for online shopping and promotions. Popular product categories include parenting, food, health, consumer electronics, home, jewelry, fashion, and luxury.
Marketing approach: Extend the festive shopping spirit with promotions, discounts, and exclusive deals.
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Christmas Day – Dec 25
Christmas is not traditionally a Chinese holiday, and it is not widely celebrated in the same way as in Western countries. However, in recent years, Christmas has gained popularity in major urban areas, and some people do participate in the festivities, including gift-giving. Christmas is also considered a romantic day among young couples.
Marketing approach: Embrace the festive season with Christmas-themed marketing. Offer holiday discounts, promotions, and limited-time festive products.
Travel holidays
In addition to the major festivals listed, the Summer (Jul-Aug) and Winter (Jan-Feb) school holidays are key periods for the travel industry, as Chinese parents frequently use their annual leave to travel with their children.
Public holidays in China, such as Tomb Sweeping Day and Labor Day, are often extended by merging them with weekends or adding a workday before or after, creating a 3-4 day window for short trips. This can be further extended with paid leave.
Boost sales with paid advertising
Shopping and cultural holidays in China play a pivotal role in driving e-commerce sales and conversions, especially when complemented with paid advertising.
Traffic from Ocean Engine Shopping Ads for Douyin grows substantially during shopping festivals, especially later in the year, coinciding with Double 11, Black Friday, and Double 12 events. This strategic combination can catapult brand engagement and sales to new heights during key e-commerce events.
To learn more about paid advertising solutions for China, check out Ocean Engine’s suite of e-commerce advertising solutions.
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