The “Chunyun (春运)” or Spring Festival traffic, known as the world’s largest population movement, reached 9 billion passenger trips in 2025, which not only demonstrates the capacity of China’s infrastructure but also becomes a key mechanism to accelerate economic circulation.
This analytical article analyzes the driving force of China’s Spring Festival in the domestic economy and consumption sector based on the comparison of actual figures in 2025 and expectations and forecasts for 2026. things to intellectual “experiences” and “satisfaction”.
Spring Festival consumption is an important indicator of China’s internal strength and resilience.
Macroeconomic Importance: Consumption is the soul of growth
Expansion of scale: In 2025, China’s total retail sales volume will exceed 50 trillion Yuan for the first time in history, with consumption accounting for 52% of economic growth, clearly demonstrating the expansion of scale. During the Spring Festival of that year, the transaction volume through payment systems (UnionPay, NetUnion) reached 8.52 trillion Yuan, an increase of 17.08% over the previous year.
Structural transformation and service economy: China has been focusing on improving the quality of consumption in recent years, as clearly seen from the statistics for 2025. Consumption in the service sector grew by 12.3%, far surpassing the consumption of traditional goods. The sharp increase in tourism (37.5%) and cultural and artistic consumption (66.3%) is a clear indication that people’s life needs are shifting from material
This huge movement has brought hundreds of billions of Yuan in direct revenue to the transportation and logistics sectors, and has also helped to support local small and medium-sized enterprises by bridging the gap between urban and rural consumption.
New Generations and the “Holiday Atmosphere” Revolution
As the younger generation in the 1990s and 2000s began to shape the Chinese market, the traditional “Holiday Atmosphere” has undergone a major transformation in terms of content. This demographic shift has fundamentally changed the culture of gift-giving, moving away from the previously dominant alcohol, tobacco, or luxury goods to natural products, immune-boosting supplements, and health-tech devices. For example, while traditional consumers in the 1960s and 1970s valued “dignity” and “material abundance,” the new generation prioritizes “health,” “practical use,” and “satisfaction.” The survey found that 58% of consumers consider health benefits and eco-friendliness to be the most important criteria when choosing a gift, which proves that social values are shifting towards a more quality and healthy lifestyle.
Another interesting phenomenon is that the keyword search for “self-reward spending” (Yueji xiaofei) by young people on Chinese domestic search engines has increased by 50%, indicating that the consumption motive is not only to show off to others, but also to the “new quality” mentality of personal psychological pleasure and investment in oneself.
Technological Advancement: Digital Yuan and Automation
With the rapid development of technology and the strategic reform of “New Quality Productive Forces” that China has been implementing since 2023, the Spring Festival has become a new consumption culture and has actually entered the lives of every household.
The high-tech and high-quality policy, which will be the core of development in the next 5 years, will be most clearly seen in the fintech sector.
For example, in addition to traditional digital transactions via WeChat and Alipay, the use of Digital Yuan (e-CNY) will increase by more than 30% in 2025, confirming that non-cash payments are becoming an economic “revitalization”.
The successful implementation of holiday discounts and digital “red envelopes” (Chinese: hongbao 红包) through digital yuan (e-CNY) has made the financial system smarter and more accessible.
At the same time, robots and automated systems that have entered the service sector such as catering and restaurants during the holiday rush have not only saved labor costs, but also reduced human errors and raised service standards to a new international level.
Green Consumption and Smart Travel
The results of high-quality development policies can be clearly seen in people’s daily consumption, especially food consumption. In preparing for the 2026 Spring Festival, Chinese consumers will prioritize “safety” and “eco-origin” over “cheap prices.” Sales of “green” products, which are produced in a clean environment and free from chemical fertilizers, have increased by 40% compared to previous years. In addition, with the use of intelligent control systems, consumers can check the origin and transportation history of food products in seconds with a QR code. This control based on blockchain technology has become a bridge of trust between consumers and manufacturers, and has forced substandard products out of the market.
The 9-day long holiday in 2026 will make the tourism industry the biggest economic growth pole of the Spring Festival. In 2025, the number of people traveling by new energy vehicles increased by 48%.
This demand is driving investment in smart charging stations along highways and supporting the “green economy”. Domestic tourists in China are increasingly staying in places for several days, rather than just sightseeing. In 2025, the average travel time per tourist will reach 5.9 days, and high-end hotel bookings will increase by 70%.
Impact on Mongolia and New Opportunities
This “quality shift” of the Chinese economy is directly and indirectly affecting our country not only as a trading partner, but also as a channel for introducing new consumption standards and technological expertise. In recent years, the number of Mongolians traveling to China for the Lunar New Year Holiday (Tsagaan Sar or 拜月节日) has increased dramatically, and this has become a kind of “exploration trip”. Our citizens have experienced the robotic automation, high-speed infrastructure, and comprehensive digital payment systems that have entered the service sector of our neighboring country, which is an incentive to raise expectations for domestic service standards.
From a macroeconomic perspective, the fact that Chinese consumers have made “eco-friendly and healthy” products a priority in their lives presents a historic opportunity for Mongolia’s agricultural sector. Under the influence of the “New Quality Productive Forces” policy, the country’s more than 400 million middle-class citizens have become increasingly concerned about food safety and natural origin. If we can combine the advantages of traditional pastoralism with international “green” standards and a blockchain-based traceability system, Mongolian meat, meat products, and organic raw materials can become the most valuable part of this giant market. To seize this strategic opportunity, we need to keep pace with this “smart” and “green” consumption transition in our neighboring countries and raise the quality standards and logistics speed of our export products to a new level.
References
1. https://www.xinhuanet.com/travel/20260130/bc651532d0c0448dae192e2e207f2b3c/c.html
2. https://finance.eastmoney.com/a/202602043641532531.html
3. https://www.51diaocha.com/kb/18584.html
4. https://www.xinhuanet.com/travel/20260130/bc651532d0c0448dae192e2e207f2b3c/c.html
5. https://finance.sina.com.cn/wm/2026-02-02/doc-inhkkvai4353361.shtml?froms=ggmp
6. https://china.mintel.com/insights/consumer-research/cny-consumer-insights/
Эх сурвалж: Зууны мэдээ, 2026.2.6 №25 (7767)
This article was published by Mongolia Press in Mongolian and has been translated with the author’s permission.
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