Modernization evidenced by festival's opening-up: China Daily editorial

In a hyperconnected world where algorithms increasingly choreograph our daily lives, China's special nine-day shopping campaign during the Spring Festival holiday has demonstrated how a society once rooted in agrarian rhythms has rewired itself for the digital age without severing its cultural roots.

Announced by the Ministry of Commerce of China and rolled out from Feb 15 to Monday, the campaign featured activities across six areas — dining, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping and entertainment — via five policy tools such as trade-in subsidies and inbound-tourism facilitation. But the real story is not the policy architecture. It is the transformation of Spring Festival itself from a traditional family reunion into a hybrid celebration that mirrors China's high-standard opening-up and modernization.

Consider the numbers. In just the first four days of the holiday, Hainan's offshore duty-free sales hit 970 million yuan ($140.51 million), up 15.8 percent year-on-year, and average daily sales at key retail and catering enterprises nationwide rose 8.6 percent year-on-year. Flight bookings to China surged more than 400 percent around the holiday period. These are not merely statistics; they are signals of a society shifting from export-led growth to consumption-driven resilience.

The Chinese New Year was born in a world where prosperity meant a harvest and a full granary. Today, prosperity is measured in livestream clicks, mobile-payment scans and duty-free receipts. Yet the emotional core remains intact: reunion dinners, temple fairs, lantern festivals. What has changed is the interface. Multilingual festival maps guide foreign visitors to intangible-heritage markets. Digital "red envelopes" replace paper ones. AI-driven logistics ensure gifts arrive overnight. Tradition has not been replaced; it has been increasingly platform-evolved in many places.

This evolution reflects what anthropologists call "cultural layering" — new technologies settling onto ancient rituals like sediment on riverbeds. In the country, different generations may celebrate the same festival through different consumption patterns: grandparents buying time-honored brands in temple fairs, parents upgrading home appliances through trade-in subsidies, and Gen Z livestream-shopping niche domestic labels. The pro-consumption campaign's 62.5 billion yuan in trade-in subsidies is an accelerator for household modernization and green transition.

Foreign companies have noticed. Nestle Greater China told the media that Spring Festival showcases the sophistication of Chinese demand. Tesla reported surging showroom traffic after holiday promotions. European appliance makers and healthcare brands rolled out more localized products to capture the festival economy. China is no longer merely the world's factory; it is an increasingly world marketplace shaping global product design.

Inbound tourism tells a parallel story. Shanghai's airports handled an average of 113,000 daily cross-border travelers during the holiday. Beijing Capital International Airport processed nearly 8,000 tax-refund applications in the pre-holiday shopping season in January, up 469.81 percent year-on-year. It is fair to say that Spring Festival has become both a cultural magnet and a consumption gateway, illustrating how the festival demand radiates outward, shaping cross-border trade and service innovation.

In a sluggish world economy, the Chinese New Year is emerging as a seasonal stabilizer — not just for China, but for global supply chains that now synchronize product launches, marketing cycles and logistics flows around this holiday. The nine-day holiday has become a feedback loop between domestic consumption and global integration.

The inscription of the Chinese New Year on UNESCO's representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2024 underscores its enduring cultural vitality. What we are witnessing today is a dynamic process of modernization: tradition is not confined to the past, but remains a living heritage that continuously adapts to the changing times.