The Spring Festival, the most important holiday in China, has driven strong consumption in the sectors of transport, movies, retail sales and catering during the nine-day holiday running through Monday.
The festival is traditionally celebrated with family reunion feasts, festive delicacies, and wishes of good luck for the year ahead.
On Monday, transport hubs throughout China are bracing for a return-trip surge.
Passenger flows have climbed sharply since Saturday, with railways, highways and waterways operating at high capacity. China's railways are expected to handle nearly 18.5 million passenger trips on Monday.
Meanwhile, the 2026 Spring Festival box office, including pre-sales, have already surpassed 5.5 billion yuan (about 796 million U.S. dollars).
The total box office revenue, including pre-sales, for 2026 has surpassed eight billion yuan (about 1.16 billion U.S. dollars).
Average daily sales in the retail and catering sectors during the first four days of the holiday increased by 8.6 percent compared with the same period last year.
Notably, artificial intelligence (AI) has played a key role in this year's holiday consumption.
Orders for movie tickets placed through AI surged by 37,200 percent.
Nearly half of all AI orders now come from county-level areas. And nearly four million users over the age of 60 embraced AI shopping, drawn by the simplicity of placing orders with just a voice command.
Spring Festival boosts robust consumption in transport, cinemas, retail sales
Spring Festival boosts robust consumption in transport, cinemas, retail sales
Hong Kong's first astronaut lifted off into space on Sunday, sparking a wave of enthusiasm for space exploration in the special administrative region, while inspiring a new generation to look to the stars.
The Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 23:08 (Beijing Time) on Sunday. The crew members include Lai Ka-ying, the first astronaut and payload specialist from Hong Kong to join a national space mission, whose achievements have motivated many Hong Kong residents.
"I feel so happy and thrilled. This is the first time a Hong Kong astronaut has gone to space, and to see a true Hong Konger, who is also a mother of three, just really touches my heart," said Chow, a local resident.
The successful spaceflight of Lai has especially captivated the younger generation to dream bigger about the future.
"I want to be an astronaut, because I want to discover more things about space," said a young student surnamed Chow.
"I have seen things related to spaceflights of astronauts. I hope when I grow up, I could receive training and go to space myself," said another student surnamed Koo.
To meet public expectations, the Hong Kong Space Museum has updated its space-themed exhibition with the latest development of the Shenzhou-23 mission, extending the display until July 6. Parents are seizing the moment to enrich their children's knowledge.
"At his age, I want him to be exposed to a wide range of information. With all the recent astronaut news, I brought him here specially to see for himself. We will also check out a film about space knowledge at the planetarium. I hope he can get more out of this from an early age," said Cheung, a father.
"We just watched the Shenzhou-23 launch at home with my son last night, and decided to take him to the Space Museum," a mother surnamed Chun shared.
"I saw on TV that so many people were cheering for the launch. When the rocket was launched, fire burst out from its body. I was really happy they succeeded," said Chun's son.
Hong Kong's first astronaut ignites citywide enthusiasm over space exploration
