Customers choose consumer electronics products at a shopping mall in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Photo by Sun Zhongnan/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese consumers ushered in the Spring Festival holiday with a burst of spending, filling restaurants and malls and traveling across the country, which offered an early-year boost to the consumption sector.

In the first four days of the holiday break, average daily sales at major retail and catering businesses rose 8.6 percent from the corresponding period a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. Traffic and revenue at 78 key shopping streets and districts in the first three days climbed 4.5 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.

The Spring Festival, which is also known as Chinese New Year, fell on Feb. 17 this year, and the holiday, which starts two days earlier, lasts nine days in total.

The spending wave blended tradition with new habits, with online platforms reporting brisk demand for smart devices. Sales of wearable gadgets on major platforms surged 19.7 percent year on year in the first three days of the holiday, with smart glasses more than doubling and smart blood glucose monitors up by nearly 50 percent.

Services spending added to the momentum. Domestic tourism consumption on major platforms rose 4.5 percent year on year in the first three days of the holiday, including a 26 percent jump in car-rental bookings.

In the southern island province of Hainan, duty-free sales reached 970 million yuan (nearly 140 million U.S. dollars) in the first four days of the holiday, up 15.8 percent from a year ago.

A nationwide consumer goods trade-in program also continued to unleash consumption demand. By Feb. 18, nearly 28.44 million consumers had received subsidies to replace old products with new ones this year, generating nearly 196.39 billion yuan in sales. Auto trade-ins accounted for a sizable share, with sales reaching 100.23 billion yuan.

The government introduced a slate of supportive measures ahead of the nine-day break, encouraging local authorities and businesses to pair promotional events with policy incentives, including shopping vouchers and improved payment services for visitors. ■

Customers choose home appliances at a shopping mall in Haian, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Photo by Gu Binbin/Xinhua)

Customers are pictured at a consumer electronics store in Mengzi, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 20, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Photo by Xue Yingying/Xinhua)

Customers choose home appliances at a mall in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Photo by Sun Zhongnan/Xinhua)

Customers view a vehicle at an automobile store in Taixing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Photo by Gu Jihong/Xinhua)

Customers view a new energy vehicle at a shopping mall in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Photo by Zhao Jun/Xinhua)

Customers are pictured at a shopping mall in Nankai District of north China's Tianjin, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Xinhua/Li Ran)

Customers are pictured at a consumer electronics store in Taixing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Photo by Gu Jihong/Xinhua)

Customers choose mobile phones at a consumer electronics store in Zaozhuang, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Photo by Sun Zhongzhe/Xinhua)

Customers view a new energy vehicle in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Xinhua/Li Jianan)

A poster promoting the government's consumer subsidy program is pictured at a shopping mall in Nankai District of north China's Tianjin, Feb. 21, 2026. A series of consumption stimulus programs and policies have helped boost consumer spending during China's Spring Festival holiday, with home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics ranking among the top-selling categories. (Xinhua/Li Ran)