Reflections | When every Chinese emperor’s birthday was a statutory holiday, and how National Day came about
- October 1 is National Day in China, but it used to be October 10. Before that, there was no concept of the nation’s ‘birthday’
- The closest China came to that was the statutory holidays marking each emperor’s birthday – and they got the idea from celebrations for Buddha’s Birthday
![National Day is celebrated on the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade in Hong Kong on October 1, 2021. Imperial China had no such holiday, but did mark emperors’ birthdays. Photo: Felix Wong](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2022/09/30/a93bb965-6148-4032-a82b-eac8f2367dd8_49d69bc9.jpg?itok=JZE_tZde&v=1664539993)
Every year Chinese nationals celebrate their country’s national day on October 1, which is the anniversary of the founding on that day in 1949 of the People’s Republic of China.
It is obviously incorrect to say that China celebrates its 73rd birthday this year because the Chinese nation has had a much longer continued existence, one that stretches back several thousand years.
The concept of the nation’s “birthday”, and the observance and celebration thereof, was very much a 20th century innovation. Ancient and imperial China did not have a “national day”, at least not one that is presently understood. The closest equivalent would be the nationwide celebration of an emperor’s birthday.
Before the first few centuries of the common era, the anniversary of one’s birth was not celebrated in any special way. The date and time of one’s birth were remembered and used for religious and social purposes, but birthday parties came later with the introduction of a foreign religion.
![Posters celebrating China’s national day in Centra, Hong Kong. It is obviously incorrect to say that China celebrates its 73rd birthday this year, our columnist writes. Photo: Xiaomei Chen Posters celebrating China’s national day in Centra, Hong Kong. It is obviously incorrect to say that China celebrates its 73rd birthday this year, our columnist writes. Photo: Xiaomei Chen](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2022/09/30/6f25c652-962c-4dea-8459-4700b6f05a0b_7411af6d.jpg)
Buddhism, originally from the Indian subcontinent, was zealously embraced between the 3rd and the 6th centuries by the Chinese, who made the religion their own. One of its most important festivals was the Buddha’s Birthday, which was marked with much joy and fanfare by both the ruling elites and commoners.
Scholars aver that in those four centuries, the celebration of the Buddha’s Birthday in China influenced the Chinese to begin celebrating their own, a practice that continued into the Sui and Tang dynasties (581–907). An early Tang record states that “it is a recent custom that children whose parents are alive have a get-together with food and drink on their birthdays every year”.
![loading](https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/_next/static/media/wheel-on-gray.af4a55f9.gif)