China will celebration National Day On Oct. 1.
A girl wears a monkey king headwear at a festival fair during Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, Feb. 16, 2016. REUTERS/China Daily

The People's Republic of China celebrates National Day Saturday, a holiday honoring the founding date of the country. Although the Chinese Independence Day was actually won on Sept. 21, 1949, it wasn’t until Oct. 1 when Red Army leader Mao Zedong declared the day of independence amongst a crowd of 300,000 at Tiananmen Square.

On Oct. 2, 1949, China's new government passed the "Resolution on the National Day of the People's Republic of China" to make Oct. 1 to be the Chinese National Day.

This year, Saturday marks the start of Golden Week in China, during which people celebrate the Republic with actives and festivals all week long.

Here are some fun facts about China's National Day:

1. National Day is just one of China's seven public holidays, but some offer more days off. In comparison, the U.S. has 11 public holidays.

2. The schedule for National Day isn't the same throughout the country. Mainland China gets three days, Macau gets two days, and Hong Kong gets one day.

3. It's the longest public holiday of the year, aside from Chinese New Year which typically lasts three days.

4. There are patriotic parades with floats on National Day. Just like the 4th of July, China also celebrates with fireworks.

5. Since the weather in generally pleasant, National Day can cause travel problems for the country of 1.3 billion. Airplane tickets are more expensive, and train tickets can be tough to find.

6. It's a great time to go shopping, too, with many holiday deals.

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