Retrocession Day

October 25 is officially titled Taiwan Retrocession Day and Memorial Day of the Victory at Guningtou, Kinmen. The first theme recalls the 1945 ceremony at which Japanese forces in Taiwan surrendered to a Republic of China representative after Japan’s defeat. ROC authorities then began administering Taiwan after five decades of Japanese colonial rule. Whether that ceremony itself legally transferred sovereignty is disputed by scholars and political actors, so “retrocession” is presented here as the statutory title rather than an uncontested legal conclusion.

The second theme remembers the October 1949 Battle of Guningtou, when ROC forces defeated a People’s Liberation Army landing on Kinmen during the Chinese Civil War. The combined holiday was restored by the 2025 Memorial Days and Festivals legislation. Ceremonies may differ between Taiwan proper and Kinmen, and views of both narratives vary. In 2026 the Sunday date produces a substitute day off on Monday, October 26.

Retrocession Day must be read through Taiwan’s current Memorial Days and Festivals framework and the legally relevant work calendar, not through a generic list of “public holidays.” The DGPA’s 2026 calendar directly governs central government administrative agencies; state-run enterprises generally follow it, while schools and police, fire, coast-guard and military bodies may adjust schedules under their competent authorities. Employees covered by the Labor Standards Act receive the applicable statutory holiday and wage treatment under Ministry of Labor rules, but banks, transport, hospitals and individual businesses publish operational hours separately. Revised scheduling rules no longer create compensatory Saturday work merely to manufacture a long weekend; a substitute rest day follows the applicable collision rule instead.