BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Younger generations of Chinese citizens are taking over the Spring Festival -- or Chinese New Year -- consumption scene, reshaping the holiday shopping season in unconventional ways.
Data from Taobao, China's leading e-commerce platform, has shown that more than half of all consumers of festival products were born after 1995, and 83 percent of those aged between 18 and 34 believe they call the shots in their families when it comes to festival shopping.
While wishes for good fortune continue to determine much of the spending among younger generations, they are eying bolder and more personalized options.
On Freshippo, a major online grocery outlet, a new aromatherapy gift box sold as "The Scent of Money" has gone viral on social media and topped the platform's purchase chart. The box is filled with fragrance stones shaped like gold ingots and predominantly in shades of red or gold -- symbols that young consumers perceive as good luck to attract wealth.
At Sam's Club outlets in China, a musical gift box with a delicate merry-go-round design has drawn significant attention for its entertainment value.
Similarly, items such as kumquat-shaped pastries symbolizing prosperity and crystal balls designed to resemble the God of Wealth are enjoying rising popularity on many other shopping platforms, with businesses incorporating more straightforward auspicious phrases and visual symbols of good fortune into their products.
"Young people are seeking a personalized experience. Traditional figures of the God of Wealth, often associated with parents and grandparents in their pursuit of wealth, are being overshadowed as young people search for new symbols that also represent wealth," according to Renee, an independent consumer behavior researcher.
The tradition of New Year purchases has evolved beyond mere sustenance, taking on various meanings for contemporary youth, according to an analysis from China Consumer Reports.
The tradition is now also a source of personal comfort, providing emotional value and acting as a vessel for hope and a celebration of life, the analysis notes.
The analysis was in line with Freshippo's observations and strategy. A representative of a Guangzhou Freshippo outlet said that consumers are now increasingly inclined to spend for emotional satisfaction when selecting New Year's products.
This trend has been particularly clear in shopping compounds with a rich ACG (anime, comics and games) presence -- unorthodox venues for traditional festival shopping.
Ahead of the Spring Festival, a new ACG mall in Shanghai's Yangpu District was bustling with young locals and tourists, who were there for "cyber festive purchases" containing both regular products and lucky bags of official ACG merchandise on sale for the occasion.
"Bags of 'Spy × Family' and 'BLUE LOCK' merchandise have been selling out really fast as the visitor flow ahead of the holiday remains heavy," according to a shop assistant at the mall.
For observers, the rise of these cyber festive purchases is a breath of fresh air for the Chinese New Year market, as emotional value is becoming ever more important.
"It is an innovative way to practice traditional Chinese culture in modern society. It preserves the tradition of preparing goods for the new year while instilling a younger mentality into the celebration," said Shen Han, a professor at Fudan University's department of tourism.
"Young people have redefined traditional New Year purchases by favoring products with more emotional value to show their personalities and values, and to fulfill their desire for emotional connection. This is their cultural consumption concept," Shen noted.
"It's New Year, and nothing beats being happy," a 21-year-old surnamed Liu said at the ACG mall in Shanghai, wasting no time in snatching the only remaining badge from the "Persona" video game franchise as a New Year's gift to himself.
编辑：刘思雨
