Shopping for Spring Festival enters peak period

As the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, approaches, shopping for the festival has entered its peak season across the country.

The Nanjing Yunjin Brocade Museum in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, has released Yunjin brocade products inspired by the Chinese character "Fu," meaning good luck in English, for the 2025 Year of the Snake. The museum's Yunjin brocade research institute is conducting live-streaming sales sessions for these new products.

Since last year, handiworks developed by the Yunjin brocade research institute have experienced increasing online sales. Currently, products themed on the 2025 Year of the Snake have amassed over 800,000 yuan (about $109,889) in online sales and more than 500,000 yuan in offline sales. This year, total product sales are projected to reach 4 million yuan.

At a shopping fair at the Tang Paradise in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Sun Ying, a 4th-generation inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of "chan hua," or making silk-wrapped flowers, has introduced a special Spring Festival product featuring a snake and a peony flower. She also offers various handiworks incorporating silk-wrapped flower elements, such as earrings, hairpins, brooches, and more.

A silk-wrapped flower made by Sun Ying. (Xi'an Evening News/courtesy of the interviewee)

"I want to purchase these as gifts for my family members," said a citizen surnamed Zhang Yuanyuan.

The Tang Paradise is a complex based on the site of the original relic of an imperial garden dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

"In addition to broadening sales channels, Spring Festival shopping fairs also serve as a crucial platform for intangible cultural heritage inheritors to engage in cross-industry exchanges," said Zhang Xing, an inheritor of the craft of making facial makeup for Shehuo, a traditional folk celebration in China that includes various festivities like dragon dances, lion dances, traditional Chinese opera, drum performances, and other folk activities that differ across regions.

Shaanxi has implemented measures across four categories to enhance the consumption of intangible cultural heritage consumer products, including 893 themed Spring Festival celebration activities and 106 travel routes showcasing intangible cultural heritage.

Wellness products are also gaining popularity among consumers.

In recent years, shoppers have not only been appreciating the traditional and cultural significance of Spring Festival shopping but also focusing on the health benefits of products. On Jan. 22, customers showed keen interest in health-promoting products at a lifestyle store of Henan Zhang Zhongjing Pharmacy Co. Ltd. in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province.

Ma Li, director of the lifestyle project of the company, said the store saw a surge in foot traffic before the Spring Festival, with sales hitting new highs. Sales of health cakes increased by 61 percent, and the New Year gift box series saw a 390 percent growth.