China has basked in a festive hustle and bustle as people celebrated the lunar new year of the rabbit with strong consumer sentiments.

During the week-long holiday, which ended on Friday, sales revenue of China's consumption-related sectors rose 12.2 percent from last year's Spring Festival holiday, which ran from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, data from the State Taxation Administration showed.

The figure saw an average annual growth of 12.4 percent compared with the Spring Festival holiday in 2019, the pre-COVID-19 period, according to the data.

Many people returned to their hometowns for family reunions during the first Spring Festival holiday after the country optimized its anti-virus response, while others took long-awaited trips for leisure. During the holiday, people also swarmed into cinemas, restaurants, and different types of tourist attractions, satisfying their pent-up consuming desire.

This photo taken on Jan. 23, 2023 shows people at a cinema in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

MOVIEGOERS ARE BACK

China's cinemas welcomed crowds of moviegoers with a cluster of highly anticipated blockbusters on offer during this year's Spring Festival holiday. In the period, 129 million tickets were sold, generating a whopping revenue of 6.76 billion yuan (about 998.49 million U.S. dollars), up 11.89 percent from the same period of 2022.

The earnings made this year's holiday the second highest-grossing to date, sending a strong signal of the robust recovery of China's cultural and tourism industry this spring.

Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association, said the movie frenzy made him feel that Chinese films will be off to "a new start towards a better future" after being hampered by COVID-19 for years.

In this aerial photo, tourists visit the Ice-Snow World theme park in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)