Shopping event featuring cultural, New Year goods kicks off in Guangzhou

A promotion campaign called "Celebrating the Spring Festival with Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) and Savoring the Chinese New Year," kicked off in Guangzhou City in south China's Guangdong Province on Monday.

The promotion is part of the ICH Chinese New Year Goods Shopping Month.

At Huacheng Square in Guangzhou, a festival market featuring a wide array of intangible cultural heritage products from all over the country is already drawing in crowds to enjoy traditional handicrafts and specialty food.

The three-day fair features three themed exhibition zones: delicacies, clothing and accessories, and trendy merchandise inspired by traditional Chinese culture.

Over 130 representative intangible cultural heritage programs from 15 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Macao SAR, are showcased, with more than 60 inheritors of intangible cultural heritages on site for demonstrations and sales.

"Our audience can create New Year paintings while sharing their wishes for the new year, bringing home good fortune through their artwork," said Liu Zhongping, the municipal representative inheritor of Foshan Woodblock New Year Painting, a national intangible cultural heritage project.

"Once inside, I immediately felt the vibrant atmosphere of the upcoming Spring Festival. I also discovered a lot of tasty foods and a flower market. It is very auspicious," said a tourist.

The Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, falls on February 17 this year, and marks the beginning of the Year of the Horse.

The country's shopping month will continue until the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first month in the lunar Chinese calendar and marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Shopping event featuring cultural, New Year goods kicks off in Guangzhou

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday stressed the importance of improving the conduct of officials, building integrity and combating corruption in government work, which will provide a strong guarantee to achieve the goals and tasks of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Li, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks at a State Council meeting on clean governance.

Addressing the meeting, Li called for higher standards and more practical measures in exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance, with the aim of ensuring relevant efforts are implemented across all aspects and processes of government work.

He also called for a more resolute, vigorous approach to implementing the CPC Central Committee's decisions and arrangements, as well as efforts to ensure officials have the correct understanding of what it means to perform well.

Moreover, Li called for further work to combat pointless formality and reduce the burden on primary-level officials, and to strengthen audit-based and accounting oversight to ensure the secure, efficient use of public funds and assets.

He also emphasized the need to deal with corruption issues in key areas seriously, as well as those that occur at people's doorsteps.

Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese vice premier, presided over the meeting.

Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, attended the meeting.

Chinese premier urges integrity, anti-corruption efforts in government work