放假，是指在规定的日期停止工作或学习，度过假日。语出唐 皎然 张荐 《七言乐语联句》：“戍客归来见妻子，学生放假偷向市。”
Holiday means to stop working or studying on a specified date and spend the holiday. It comes from the “Seven-Character Music Couplets” by Jiaoran and Zhang Jian of the Tang Dynasty: “The garrison soldiers return to see their wives, and the students sneak to the market on holiday.”
中国假日制从汉代就开始了。当时官员休息那天，都要沐浴更衣，故称假日为“沐日”。汉代规定，朝中官员可每5天返家沐浴，所以叫“五日休”。唐朝改为“旬休”，即每10天可休息1天。在古代，除平时的休息日外，也有节假日。唐代，中秋节给假3天，清明祭祖给假3天。明代冬至放假3天，元宵节放假10天。
为了鼓励臣下尽心国事，晋代定有“急假”．即让官吏处理紧急家事的假期，但一年不得超过60天。后晋时，家在外地的官吏还给探亲路程假。清政府对有功人员要赐“赏假”。林则徐患病，道光皇帝降旨赏假3个月。此外，麦收农忙季节也要相应给假。
对于官吏的休假，历代都有严格的规定。唐德宗曾明确规定，三品以上的官吏，满假那天，必须到衙门报到，否则扣发俸禄一月，有的甚至被罢官。
清朝初年，随着两方传教士进入中国，“礼拜天”这一宗教用语开始在我国流行，辛亥革命胜利届，开始实行星期日休息制，从此以后，假日制就开始在中国实行。
随着时代的进步，人们的生活节奏逐渐加快，各方面的压力也越来越大，所以从上世纪90年代起，中国政府部门又规定了每周5天工作制。
The Chinese holiday system began in the Han Dynasty. At that time, officials had to bathe and change clothes on the day of rest, so the holiday was called “Mu Ri”. The Han Dynasty stipulated that officials in the court could return home to bathe every 5 days, so it was called “five-day rest”. The Tang Dynasty changed it to “ten-day rest”, that is, one day off every 10 days. In ancient times, in addition to ordinary rest days, there were also holidays. In the Tang Dynasty, 3 days of leave were given for Mid-Autumn Festival and 3 days of leave for Qingming Festival. In the Ming Dynasty, 3 days of leave were given for the winter solstice and 10 days of leave for the Lantern Festival.
In order to encourage officials to devote themselves to state affairs, the Jin Dynasty established “urgent leave”, that is, leave for officials to deal with urgent family affairs, but it could not exceed 60 days a year. In the Later Jin Dynasty, officials whose families were away from home were also given leave to visit relatives. The Qing government would grant “reward leave” to meritorious personnel. When Lin Zexu was ill, Emperor Daoguang issued an edict to grant him a three-month leave. In addition, leave should also be granted during the busy wheat harvest season.
For officials’ leave, there have been strict regulations in all dynasties. Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty once clearly stipulated that officials above the third rank must report to the government office on the day of their leave, otherwise their salary would be deducted for one month, and some would even be dismissed from office.
In the early Qing Dynasty, with the entry of missionaries from both sides into my country, the religious term “Sunday” began to become popular in China. After the victory of the Xinhai Revolution, the Sunday rest system was implemented. From then on, the holiday system began to be implemented in China.
With the progress of the times, people’s pace of life has gradually accelerated, and pressure from all aspects has become increasingly greater. Therefore, since the 1990s, Chinese government departments have stipulated a 5-day work week.