A lot of western buyers don’t understand why a lot of problems happen around the Chinese New Year holiday, and things are almost in chaos for 2 or 3 months, but if you buy from China, you should know there is the world largest human migration in the world behind this. Here is are few points I have to say for this holiday

Chinese New Year is called Spring Festival too. It has been with Chinese people for thousands of years and it’s as important as Christmas to the western world and Diwali to India. It’s time for Chinese to gather with their families, old classmates and friends, exchanging gifts, etc.

Chinese New Year is even more important to Chinese than Christmas to Western people, as most people work in the coastal cities far-away from their hometown which is normally at the inner parts of the Chinese continent.

There is a Chinese saying, GO BACK HOME FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR NO MATTER YOU ARE RICH OR POOR. For most blue-collar employees, this is even the only chance of the whole year to meet their kids and parents, some of them pay even a whole month’s salary just to get a train ticket.

The heart of most employees have already flied to their home a few days before the holiday starts. Nowadays, some of the young generation quit the companies a few weeks earlier before the holiday to avoid high price of train tickets, and come back to the factories in the coastal areas in another few weeks after the holiday ends. This usually causes lower work efficiency of the employees’ before and after the Chinese New Year.There is also always labor shortage in the coastal factories in Chinese these years before and after the Chinese New Year. In a word, the factories are not fully geared for almost 2 months.

The date of Chinese New Year is variable from each year, because the Chinese calendar is made according to the running of moon instead of sun. This makes western people always confused as it’s not fixed. In most cases, the holiday is in Jan or Feb each year.

The Chinese New Year holiday is officially 3 days only, but most companies offer at least 2 weeks. But many employees combine their annual leave holidays to get 20 or 30 days.

Tips for international buyers who buy from China

1. Always get to know the Chinese New Year holiday schedule, this will definitely bring you more topics with your Chinese suppliers and makes your more formative

2. Don’t make your business trip to China during the Chinese New Year holiday time

3. Plan at least 2 months before January, and always ask them for the deadlines of accepting new orders as well as production lead time. This is quite important to ensure the delivery of your goods. Get a local Chinese people involved in your project if your project is really important. A professional local Chinese can always give you constructive suggestion on this.

4. Keep your eyes open on product quality—factory employees have more attention to their tickets than their jobs at this time.

5. Pay more attention to your delivery time—more unexpected things could happen before and after Chinese New Year, things are always worse controlled during this period of time.

6. Make sure you would have enough stock after Chinese New Year holiday, otherwise, order a little more than what you need.

7. Make a greeting call to your Chinese partner on the Chinese New Year eve, that will definitely be a big surprise for them and tighten your relationship!