Download:
US date format   UK date format
Choose the version appropriate for the way dates are displayed in your system:
US = month/day/year, UK = day/month/year
(1.58 KB Zip file, 14 KB text file)

Instructions:
Overview |  Outlook's Built-In Calendars |  Editing |  Removing |  Installation

Overview

This file contains over five years of traditional Chinese festival dates, from fall 2005 through the end of 2010, in a format that you can easily import into your Microsoft Outlook Calendar:

Buddha's Birthday	Ghost Festival / Zhongyuan Jie
Chinese New Year	Lantern Festival / Yuanxiao Jie
Confucius' Birthday	Matsu Festival
Double Ninth / Chongyang Jie	Mid-Autumn Festival
Double Seventh / 7 Sisters Fest.	Qingming Jie / Tomb Sweeping Day
Dragon Boat Festival	Winter Solstice / Dongzhi

Each holiday will show up in your Outlook calendar along the top of its appointed day, as an all-day event. No reminder/alarm is set, but you can easily change that before importing it into Outlook, along with any other changes you may desire. Please note that these festivals are not the same as official government holidays, although there is some overlap.

Did You Know?
Outlook Already Includes Many International Holidays

Government holidays for Hong Kong and many other locations are hiding in a dialog box within Outlook 2003 or 2007, just waiting to be added:

• In Outlook, open the Tools menu, click "Options"
• In the Preferences tab, under "Calendar", click the "Calendar Options..." button
• In the Calendar Options window, under "Calendar Options", click the "Add Holidays" button
• Select Hong Kong or other locations. (I think if you uncheck anything those holidays will be uninstalled, so leave your home country checked ...or "ticked" as they say in HK and the UK.)

The Hong Kong calendar will also include official government holidays like Christmas and July 1st (Hong Kong SAR Establishment Day) in addition to most Chinese traditional festivals. Be certain this is what you want.

How to Edit Before Installation

If you want to make any changes to my file, please do so before importing. (Remember to save it again as a .csv file, not a spreadsheet.) After importing, you can remove these using my instructions below but it is tedious.

For locations/holidays not included in Outlook or in my download file, you can build your own import file using my file as a template, with the help of the links in the right-hand column of this page under "Other festival websites".

Other examples of changes you can make in the file:

• Change the date format if your PC does not use the US or UK locales I offer (see "Downloads" above), so that the file will import correctly.
• Change Mandarin to Cantonese (like translating Chongyang Jie to "Chung Yeung").
• Turn on Reminders (set "Reminder on/off" to "TRUE").
• Some may not be interested in the Matsu Festival, which is mainly celebrated in Taiwan, Macao and seafaring communities.
• Buddha's Birthday and Confucius Day are relatively new (again) government-sponsored events in some parts of the Chinese world.
• You can also add more local festivals like Tin Hau's Birthday and the Monkey God Festival (see the Discover Hong Kong link under "Other festival sites" in the right column on this page).

How to Remove After Installation

To remove any holiday from this file after import, you must sort the calendar as a list to find them as a group. These are not "Recurring" Outlook events, because lunar calendar dates do not fall on the same days each year. Here is how to remove them:

In Outlook 2002 or 2003, View > Arrange By > Current View > Events, sort by subject, then select and delete in groups.

In Outlook 2007, View > Current View > Events, sort by subject, then select and delete in groups.

To get back to your old view, go back to Current View and select Day/Week/Month.

Installation

I have tested this file with Outlook 2002, 2003 and 2007. Installation is a simple process, using "Import and Export..." on the File menu. For your convenience every step is illustrated below.

Note: if your PC is not set for the US or UK date formats I have used in these files (see the "Downloads" links above), please open the file in Excel and format the date cells with your locale. Then re-save as a CSV file.

1) On the File menu, select "Import and Export...":

2) Select "Import from another program or file" and click "Next":

3) Select "Comma Separated Values (Windows)" and click "Next":

4) Click the "Browse..." button:

5) Navigate to the .csv file and click "OK":

6) Consider changing the "Options" if you have previously imported the this file or if you already have events with the same details. Then click "Next":

7) Select "Calendar" and click "OK":

8) The file should appear in the next dialog with a checkmark next to it. If there is no checkmark, click "Change Destination..." or the "Back" button to determine if you have made any mistakes in previous steps; or if you made any changes to the file it may contain errors. You should not have to click "Map Custom Fields". If everything looks OK, click "Finish".

9) You should see this progress indicator:

10) Sample of an imported event opened from the Calendar:

Contact

I've imported this into Outlook 2002, 2003 and 2007, and I have synchronized with Palms and Blackberries with good results, but please feel free to help test, improve, correct, criticize and suggest anytime.

Please send any questions, comments or suggestions to: