Hong Kong Takes Monday Off for Chongyang
Sunday, October 18, is the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, Chung Yeung in Hong Kong and Chongyang elsewhere. Hong Kong takes Monday off. Mainland offices are open that Monday, Taiwan's offices stay open, and New Taipei already paid this year's elder gift.
Tomorrow is the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, and somebody in the family chat is already trying to get everyone to one table.
Hong Kong calls it Chung Yeung. Relatives may call it Chongyang, or the Double Ninth. On the city's 2026 holiday list the day off is Monday, October 19, because the festival falls on a Sunday.
New Taipei wired the elder gift on Wednesday. On the mainland, that Sunday is Seniors' Day and Monday is a workday.
A family spread across these cities can be free on different days.
Who has Monday
Hong Kong, Macau, the mainland, and Taiwan all have the festival on Sunday. Fewer of those places get Monday off.
In Hong Kong, the Labour Department's statutory holiday is October 18. Its 2026 example treats Sunday as the employee's rest day, and tells the employer to grant October 19.
In Macau, that Sunday is a mandatory public holiday. Monday is a compensatory day off for public administration staff. Private offices are open.
The mainland's national holiday rules were revised in November 2024. They cover New Year's Day, Spring Festival, Qingming, Labour Day, Dragon Boat, Mid-Autumn, and National Day.
October 19 is a workday there. The lunar date is also Seniors' Day, under the law on the rights of older people, in force since July 1, 2013.
Taiwan's ordinance on memorial days and festivals names Chongyang as a folk festival on lunar September 9. Offices close for a shorter list: Lunar New Year, Children's Day, Qingming, Labour Day, Dragon Boat, Teachers' Day, and Mid-Autumn. The office is open on Chongyang.
Sweep the grave, then find a hill
A Hong Kong government note on the festival still describes the day this way. Families go to ancestral graves and sweep them. Many then head for the hills and picnic.
On October 5, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department told people sweeping graves in the countryside to pull weeds with a tool, and not to burn the weeds.
Incense and paper offerings go in a container or an iron bucket. Stay with that fire, and put it out before you leave.
Leaving kindling, or burning offerings without regard to the fire risk, can bring a fine of up to HK$25,000 and a year in jail under the Forests and Countryside Ordinance. Country-park staff will hand out metal containers. The Civil Aid Service is patrolling with them.
One site with special hours is the Cape Collinson-San Ha columbarium. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department asked visitors to stagger the trip and skip the busiest hours on October 18. Escalators from San Ha Street run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. the top two, E11 and E12, run uphill only. The way down is the stairs beside them.
New Taipei paid on Wednesday
New Taipei wired this year's Chongyang gift on October 14. The city expects more than 820,000 older residents to receive it.
Someone 65 to 79 gets NT$1,500. From 80 to 89 the gift is NT$2,000, from 90 to 99 it is NT$5,000, and the 1,029 people at 100 or older get NT$20,000.
Taiwan's central government sheet for this year's gifts says indigenous elders qualify from 55, at that same NT$1,500. Household registration in New Taipei has to cover a full year by October 31, and still be in place in the month before October 18.
About 95 percent take the bank transfer. Cash pickup starts today, October 17, and the city deadline is December 31.
Bring an ID and a seal. A relative can collect it with both IDs and both seals. Taipei, Keelung, and the other counties publish different amounts, so a number forwarded in the chat may belong to another city.
Japan already had its elder day
If the chat includes Tokyo, that visit already happened.
Respect for the Aged Day this year was Monday, September 21, on the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's calendar. September 22 was a holiday too, because it sat between that Monday and the autumn equinox on September 23.
October 18 is an ordinary Sunday there.
Before you name a restaurant
Ask who has Monday first.
Hong Kong can keep the day. A parent at a mainland office is working, so call on a break.