China launched a nationwide promotional campaign on Friday to invigorate the film and catering industries and boost integrated cultural consumption momentum ahead of the nine-day Spring Festival holiday.
Co-hosted by the China Film Administration and the Ministry of Commerce, the campaign, titled "Follow Films to Taste Delicacies," was officially inaugurated at a launch ceremony in Shaoxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province.
The event spotlighted six major Spring Festival film releases: the espionage thriller "Scare Out", the racing sequel "Pegasus 3", the epic martial arts film "Blades of the Guardians", the animated adventure "Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe", the family-friendly "Boonie Bears: Every Year with a Bear", and the fantasy adventure "Per Aspera Ad Astra".
Each film is paired with regional culinary specialties from across the country, encouraging audiences to explore local food cultures alongside their cinematic experiences.
Major financial institutions are backing the initiative with consumer incentives. The China Construction Bank and the China UnionPay unveiled a series of bundled promotions linking movie tickets with dining discounts.
Meanwhile, China State Railway Group and Air China announced in-transit promotional programs featuring Spring Festival film highlights and food recommendations on high-speed trains and flights, extending the campaign's reach beyond theaters.
Zhejiang Province is rolling out a one-month initiative involving over 500 merchants under the theme "Explore Zhejiang Through Movies and Local Goodies," enabling consumers to redeem dining and tourism discounts with movie ticket stubs.
Shaoxing City has launched an 18-day campaign titled "Blessings: Celebrating the New Year in Shaoxing's Ancient City," allocating 10 million yuan (about 1.44 million U.S. dollars) in film consumption vouchers and organizing themed markets featuring local delicacies and Song Dynasty-style (960-1279) fairs.
"Zhejiang will create more 'film plus' integrated consumption scenarios, and welcome more film enthusiasts and consumers to visit our province, particularly Shaoxing, to savor local delicacies and enjoy films," said Tang Yanjun, deputy director of the film division at the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Zhejiang Provincial Committee.
The Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year, lands on Feb 17 this year. It is the most cherished annual occasion for family reunions in China.
China launches film-themed pro-consumption campaign ahead of Spring Festival
Multinational companies are deepening their footprint in China's high-tech industries, expanding research and production to seize opportunities from the country's ongoing industrial upgrade.
According to the latest Multinational Corporations in China report, Research and Development spending in the country accounted for 14.3 percent of global totals in 2025, while 14,000 new foreign-funded firms were established in scientific research and technology services, up 27.2 percent year on year.
At the 7th Qingdao Multinationals Summit, executives talked about how strong demand in sectors such as EVs, semiconductors, and batteries is prompting companies to expand capacity and embed innovation centers across China.
"Now we are opening our 4th product line, our 4th operating plant at the end of this year. So our investment will be around 25 million U.S. dollars. We will double the capacity in every product line that we make and we continue to advance and invest in new technologies, cutting-edge technologies and R and D equipment to advance our products for the Chinese market," said Charles Compson, chief commercial officer of Almatis.
Heraeus Group executives say China’s rapid development in emerging sectors have made the country a key base for innovation, with nearly all of the company’s divisions now operating research centers there.
"China is developing so fast and it is also leading in many aspects, be it robotics, be it electric vehicles, be it also some aspects of semiconductors that we really want to innovate in China. So virtually all of our units, divisions have an innovation center in China," said Klemens Brunner, managing director for Semiconductor, Electronics, and Industrials at Heraeus Group.
Gregor Idekeit, vice president and CFO for China at Claas, highlighted China’s push to modernize agriculture through electrification and smarter machinery.
"It's a big push for modernization of agriculture as we adopt more and more electric components in our machinery and more intelligent machinery. We will continue here to develop and bring products to the Chinese market here on the high end," he said.
In the first four months of this year, more than 3,000 foreign‑funded companies expanded investment in China. The country is also opening high‑tech and modern service sectors, creating new opportunities in areas such as culture, tourism, and digital industries.
"As China continues to expand its high-level opening up to the world, exciting opportunities are emerging across culture, tourism, creative industries and digital technologies. A greater openness will strengthen our cultural experiences and allow us to create a greater level of Chinese story that goes out to the world," said Richard Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Weta Workshop.
"Every time I come to China, I get quite energized and excited about the speed of change. So we're going to continue, of course, building and growing hopefully here," said Mike Doustdar, Novo Nordisk's president and CEO.
The three-day Qingdao Multinationals Summit, which drew 357 multinational companies from 44 countries and regions, concluded Wednesday in east China's Shandong Province.
Multinationals deepen investment in China's high-tech industries
