Shanghai launches major shopping festival to boost consumer spending

The sixth edition of Shanghai's iconic "5·5 Shopping Festival" kicked off on Thursday, alongside the 2025 International Consumption Season, in a renewed push to boost domestic demand and revitalize consumer spending.

Co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce, China Media Group (CMG), and the Shanghai Municipal Government, the event promises a vibrant mix of promotional campaigns, themed events, and immersive retail experiences across the city's commercial districts.

Centering on the theme "Quality Consumption, Demand Creation," the festival targets four key consumer sectors: services, big-ticket purchases, inbound spending, and emerging consumption trends. It also highlights new economic frontiers such as the debut economy, the silver economy, the nighttime economy, and the ticket-based economy—aimed at unlocking consumer potential and enhancing Shanghai's commercial vitality through new product launches, senior-friendly services, dynamic nightlife, and spending on cultural activities.

The festival launch ceremony also included the Fourth International Consumption Center City Forum. In a video address, Marwan Ahmed Bin Ghalita, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality, expressed hopes for deeper cooperation between Shanghai and Dubai as the two metropolises mark the 25th anniversary of their sister-city relationship. He emphasized their shared vision for urban development and prosperity.

Another highlight of the festival was the debut of the "CMG Select: Shanghai Pavilion." Combining celebrity hosts, culture, art, and premium brands, the pavilion leverages CMG's influential media platform to energize consumer activity and support Shanghai's drive to become a world-class consumption center.

The shopping festival will run through the end of June, with over 1,000 companies and thousands of brands set to launch more than 1,000 special events.

The 2025 International Consumption Season is a flagship event under the "Shop in China" campaign. Jointly launched by the Ministry of Commerce and five other government departments, the initiative will mobilize regions across the country to spotlight premium international and domestic goods. It will feature product debuts, first launches, and consumer-friendly measures to help both domestic shoppers and inbound tourists access high-quality global merchandise and enjoy top-tier services.

Shanghai launches major shopping festival to boost consumer spending

Chinese spacecraft developers have accelerated development of the spacecraft for the country's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceflight mission by five months — moving its launch from the original schedule in October to late May — achieving greater efficiency without compromising safety or reliability.

According to He Yu, general commander of China's manned spacecraft project of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the accelerated development began shortly after the emergency launch readiness of the Shenzhou-22 last November.

"We have accelerated the development of the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft. It was originally planned for launch in late October, but has now been moved up to late May. In the six months since last November, we have gained five months of progress. This means the pace of work has been quickened by nearly one time," He said.

He further explained that a series of measures to ensure mission success have been adopted alongside the accelerated development, adding multiple layers of assurance.

"We have continued the proven measures that have ensured success in the past, which are fundamentally based on a sound product assurance system and strict process control. We have maintained high-quality assembly operations, continued to implement efficient and high-quality automated testing procedures, adopted a specialized flight control model, and maintained a full-process quality confirmation system to ensure reliability and safety of the product," He said.

The Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 23:08 Beijing time (15:08 GMT) on Sunday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

Chinese astronauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying will carry out the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceflight mission, and Zhu will be the commander, the China Manned Space Agency announced at a press conference on Saturday.

Chinese engineers move Shenzhou-23 manned spacecraft mission forward by 5 months while ensuring safety