BEIJING (TDI), February 3rd (www.thediplomaticinsight.com) With traditional fairs and shopping and travel booms over this year’s extended holiday, China is celebrating the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake, the first since its inclusion into the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list.
For Chinese across the globe, the Spring Festival is a time for family reunions, festive traditions, holiday shopping and different cultural and tourism activities.
This year, it falls on January 29 with hundreds of millions of people traveling to reunite with families and loved ones in the world’s largest annual human migration.
Celebrations today underline both traditional and modern elements, from temple fairs, lion dances, lantern displays, and intangible cultural heritage bazaars to village galas, museum exhibitions, light and drone shows, and travels at home and abroad.
This year, festive glee and activities are further boosted by the UNESCO recognition, pro-consumption policies and the extension of the traditional 7-day holiday by an extra day.
This year, many cities are organizing more traditional festive activities, motivated by the inclusion of the Spring Festival in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December.
The southwestern megacity of Chongqing has planned over 100 intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, bazaars and performances during the holiday.
Holiday Shopping
For centuries, shopping has been a main part of Spring Festival preparations: from nice food to new clothes and carefully selected gifts.
Following the UNESCO recognition, Chinese consumers also appear to be especially interested in goods with a cultural festival flair.
In recent years, the Spring Festival shopping lists have included more imported products, reflecting Chinese people’s rising purchasing power and growing appetite for imported quality goods.
Earlier this month, a cargo ship loaded with 20,000 tonnes of Chilean cherries arrived at the Nansha Port in Guangzhou, perfectly timed to offer a festive treat for millions ahead of the Spring Festival.
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CGTN