Golden festival, golden retail market

Spring Festival's "golden week" sees retail sales in China hit 340 billion yuan, or 50 billion US dollars. That's a 17 percent improvement over the same period last year.

The week-long Spring Festival holiday, which started from February 13th this year, is China's closest equivalent to the West's Christmas shopping season.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, food, tobacco, and liquor virtually flew off the shelves during the festival. China's major retailers said food sales grew 16 percent year on year, while sales of tobacco and liquor were up 13 percent.

Communication equipment, jewelry, clothing, and home appliances were other hot choices. Their sales all soared more than 15 percent.

In Henan, the floral markets were popular, and people spent dearly for fresh flowers to represent a colorful life and strong confidence in the future.

In Shanghai, cinemas were as crowded as an open-air market, and more than 10 local blockbusters battled it out for big-screen box office revenue.

Wu Helu, deputy general manager of Unted Cinemas, said, "In previous years, the box office was less popular during the spring festival period. But this year, the box office reached 6 million yuan on new year's day, the highest ever."

In Guangzhou, where people love to purchase precious metals, gold and jade are moving well.

A Guangzhou citizen said, "I want to buy some gold bars for my personal collection or as new year presents. This year I am a little richer, so I bought heavier gold."

The new year festival has proven to be not only a golden week for family reunions and travelling, but also for retail sales. All the shops and markets know how to make hay while the sun shines. Fifteen years ago, they were all closed up during this period as people simply preferred to stay at home, watching TV with the family.