Chinese consumers flocked to malls, restaurants and cinemas ahead of the year's biggest holiday season, highlighting the consumption power transforming the economy.
Foot traffic at shopping centers and eateries edged up while online sales climbed from a year earlier, according to data from Baidu Inc., operator of the nation's dominant search engine, and No. 2 e-commerce platform JD.com Inc. Consumer confidence and box office receipts also rose, while car sales held up.
While Christmas isn't observed, that hasn't stopped businesses from introducing shopping holidays around the end of the calendar year, and the trend is increasingly attracting middle-class shoppers. The week-long Lunar New Year holiday starting at the end of this month is the major one for buying gifts and — for hundreds of millions of people — heading home to see the family.