This is the standard holiday shutdown. This always happens because here in China, even though the transfer happens electronically, the recording is done by hand. There's nothing unusual about this at New Year's. With regards to the domestic window, all that is legal holidays, and beyond that, most stores are closed. The international window is a little longer, probably because 80% of people in office settings take the whole week off. Notice that it only affects wiring money. You can still go to ATMs and make transfers by depositing into the other party's bank's ATM. Just the tellers' windows won't be open for the holiday. "system maintenance" is an excuse, yes, but not with the meaning of "hiding a financial crisis". It really means "we don't care to have backup staff".