The auspicious dragon swings its tail to bid farewell to the old year, and the golden snake brings blessings to start a new journey.

The Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival of the Chinese nation and also the peak consumption season. People welcome the blessings of the Spring Festival, visit relatives and friends, hold New Year’s goods, paste Spring Festival couplets, eat New Year’s dinner, visit temple fairs, and share reunion and joy. This year's Spring Festival holiday has increased to 8 days, and New Year's Eve is included in the statutory holiday, bringing new opportunities to expand consumption. Judging from the many signs before the festival, the consumer market this year is promising. For example, transportation during the Spring Festival travel season is expected to hit a record high, the total box office of pre-sales of movies during the Spring Festival has broken records, and the retail sales of the National Online New Year Festival exceeded 700 billion yuan before the Spring Festival. During the National Spring Festival Cultural and Tourism Consumption Month, localities will also hold more than 4,000 cultural and tourism consumption activities about 27,000 cultural and tourism consumption activities around key consumption needs such as New Year's folk customs, food, ice and snow, cold protection, health care, parent-child research and study, performing arts, fashion, and national trends.

There are several new features worth paying attention to in the consumer market during the Spring Festival this year.

The flavor of intangible cultural heritage has become a trend. In December 2024, the Spring Festival was officially included in the UNESCO representative list of intangible cultural heritage of human beings, allowing the Chinese New Year atmosphere to be shared with the world. The 2025 Spring Festival became the first "intangible cultural heritage version" Spring Festival, and tourists are enthusiastic about "chasing the intangible cultural heritage for the New Year". The popularity of searches related to "intangible cultural heritage tours" on the travel service platform has increased significantly. Folk activities such as Beijing temple fairs, Chaoshan Yingsong and Dance, Guangdong lion dance, Northwest community fire, as well as handicrafts such as hairpin, tie-dyeing, paper-cutting, rice paper, and lacquer fans are all popular experience projects. "Intangible cultural heritage collection", "intangible cultural heritage trendy toys", "intangible cultural heritage New Year goods" are popular among tourists, especially young people.

Thank "red envelopes" for old transactions. Since the implementation of the policy of exchanging old-for-new consumer goods in 2024, the sales of automobiles, home appliances, home decoration, kitchens and bathrooms have exceeded 1.3 trillion yuan, exchanging new consumption momentum, green and recyclable, and good quality of life. In 2025, my country will step up efforts to implement the implementation of the exchange of old consumer goods. You can get a maximum of 500 yuan per piece of digital products such as mobile phones, tablets, smart watches and bracelets, and you can get a maximum of 2,000 yuan per piece of 12-category home appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines. The policy "red envelope" is full of sincerity. Taking into account the consumption demand during the holidays, the central government has recently issued an estimated 81 billion yuan of the first batch of consumer goods traded in 2025 to ensure the smooth continuation of the policy. The Spring Festival has the special significance of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. Combining the policy of exchanging the old and new, the holiday consumption market will become more prosperous.

The super-large market advantage is obvious. my country has a population of more than 1.4 billion and a middle-income group of over 400 million. It is the world's broadest and rich consumer market. New consumption scenarios and new business formats continue to expand, and new growth points such as ice and snow consumption, first-time economy, silver-hailing tourism have gradually formed. The "transfer vacation" of going home to visit relatives first, then traveling, and finally returning to work and school has become a new trend in consumption during the Spring Festival. At the same time, my country's super-large-scale market has opened its arms to the world and actively expanded the opportunities for import sharing development. In 2024, my country's import scale hit a record high, maintaining its position as the world's second largest importer for 16 consecutive years. Chilean cherries, Spanish ham... More and more "foreign New Year's goods" are on the people's Spring Festival tables.

The timings alternate, everything is updated. The Spring Festival carries the Chinese people’s yearning and expectation for a better life. In the new year, China’s economy will surely write a more exciting development story. (Source of this article: Economic Daily Author: Xiong Li)