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 office. The Problem Mainstream 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) = workdays That means 2026 has 6 weekend days where you must go to work. If you query 2026-02-14 with any mainstream API: // Other APIs return: {"date": "2026-02-14", "weekday": "Saturday", "type": "weekend"} // ❌ Wrong! This is an adjusted workday - you have to work // Correct response should be: {"date": "2026-02-14", "weekday": "Saturday", "type": "adjusted_workday", "is_workday": true} If your app involves scheduling, attendance tracking, order ETA, or cron job logic - this error causes: - No staff scheduled on adjusted workdays → uncovered shifts - Attendance system marks employees as absent on workdays - Order ETA miscalculated by a day - Cron jobs fire (or don't fire) incorrectly The Solution I built Global 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 Features | Feature | Description | Other APIs | |---|---|---| | China adjusted workdays | Weekend make-up work days return is_workday: true | ❌ Exclusive | | Workday checking | One call to check if a date is a workday (with adjusted workday logic) | Partial | | 501 countries | Based on python-holidays open-source library | Similar | | US state-level holidays | 57 subdivisions with state-specific holidays | Paid only | | Date range analysis | Input start/end dates, get workday/holiday/weekend counts | Rare | | Next holiday finder | Find the next public holiday for any country | Rare | Usage (Python) import requests # Your RapidAPI API Key API_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 workday resp = 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 2026 resp = 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 range resp = 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"]) # 2 Usage (cURL) # Check if 2026-02-14 is a workday curl "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" Real-World Scenarios Scenario 1: Attendance System # Check if employees need to clock in today result = client.is_workday("CN", "2026-02-14") if result["is_workday"]: # It's a workday - enable clock-in pass else: # It's a holiday pass Scenario 2: Order ETA Calculation # Count actual workdays between two dates result = client.date_range("CN", start="2026-02-12", end="2026-02-18") workdays = result["workdays"] # Get actual workday count # Use for order delivery estimate Scenario 3: Skip Cron Jobs on Holidays # Run daily at 9am, but skip on holidays result = client.is_workday("CN", "2026-02-16") if not result["is_workday"]: continue # It's a holiday - skip do_daily_task() Comparison with Competitors | This API | Calendarific | HolidayAPI.com | Abstract API | | |---|---|---|---|---| | Countries | 501 | 230+ | 250 | 190+ | | China adjusted workdays | ✅ Exclusive | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | US state-level | ✅ Free | Paid | $399/yr | Paid | | Workday checking | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | Partial | | Date range analysis | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Free tier | 1,000/mo | 500/mo | 1,000/mo | 1,000/mo | | Cheapest paid | $10/mo | $8.3/mo | $20.75/mo | $99/mo | Pricing | Plan | Price | Quota | |---|---|---| | Basic | Free | 1,000 requests/month | | Pro ⭐ Recommended | $10/month | 10,000 requests/month | | Ultra | $25/month | 50,000 requests/month | | Mega | $100/month | 500,000 requests/month | Free tier works without a credit card. Get Started - Visit Global Holidays API on RapidAPI - Subscribe to the Free plan (1,000 requests/month, no credit card) - Get your API key - Start coding with the examples above Found this useful? Give it a ⭐ on RapidAPI! Found a data error? Submit feedback directly on the API docs page - I'll fix it ASAP. Top comments (0)