If you source from China, Chinese New Year is the one calendar event that routinely breaks a “normal” lead time. It is not three days off. For many workshops it is two to four weeks of closed lines, plus a slow restart while migrant workers return and materials catch up. The mistake is treating it as a shipping footnote in January. By then the factory has already promised the same capacity to someone who booked in October.
This piece is about what to lock in writing now — not a cultural explainer.
1. What actually stops
The public holiday is short. The operational holiday is not.
- cutting, molding, sewing, and packing lines empty out
- subcontract plating, printing, and carton plants close on their own calendars
- trucking and forwarder desks run thin
- the first one to two weeks after the official return are often not full output
A PO that says “ship in February” without naming a last production week is not a plan. It is a hope that your order is the one they finish before the gates close.
2. The dates that belong on the order
Ask for — and write onto the PI — four dates, in the factory’s own words:
- Last week of stable production before they release workers
- Last date they will accept a deposit for pre-holiday completion
- Official return-to-work date
- First week they will quote as full capacity again
Do not accept “around Spring Festival” or “after the holiday.” Those phrases cannot be enforced, and they cannot be planned against by your freight booker.
If the goods must leave China before the shutdown, the ship date on the order should be a date before that last production week, not a date during the holiday window. If the goods will wait, say so: warehouse location, who pays storage, and who books the first sailing after restart.
3. What usually slips if you only chase the factory
Your supplier can be ready and still miss the boat because a dyer, a carton plant, or a test lab is already empty. For anything with outside processes — coating, embroidery, third-party tests, wooden packaging — get those vendors’ cutoff dates too, or assume they close earlier than the main plant.
Air freight in the two weeks on either side of the holiday is not a clean backup. Space tightens and rates jump. If air is your contingency, book the possibility in writing before December, not the week the ocean slot disappears.
4. Payment and inspection around the gap
Do not let a large balance sit with “we will inspect after the holiday.” Workers and QC staff leave. A failed inspection in late January can mean the remake is March.
Safer pattern for pre-holiday cargo:
- inspection completed while the line is still fully staffed
- balance due against a passed report and shipping documents, not against a promise to pack “after reunion dinners”
- if production cannot finish, a written split: what ships now, what rolls to a dated restart PO, deposit treatment for the unfinished part
5. A short checklist to send this month
- Confirm the four dates above in an email you paste into the PI
- Name the subcontract steps that can close earlier
- Decide pre-holiday ship vs. post-holiday ship; do not leave it implied
- Book inspection before the last stable production week
- Tell your forwarder the same dates you told the factory
The bottom line
Chinese New Year breaks lead times because capacity leaves the building, not because the calendar shows a red day. The fix is a dated cutoff on the PO while Q4 is still open — last production week, last deposit they will take for pre-holiday cargo, return-to-work, and first full-capacity week. “February shipment” without those four lines is not a term.
If you need those cutoff dates written into the PI in English and Chinese, I can prepare the clause and issue a stamped set under our translation company seal when you need one. See what this covers.
Plant calendars differ by region and industry; confirm dates with your specific supplier. This article is general sourcing guidance, not legal advice.