Lunar New Year, it’s one of Asia’s most important festivals.
Think of it as the Asian Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one.
You probably also know it as Chinese New Year,
but it’s not just China that celebrates it.
Many Asian countries like Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia
celebrate the Lunar New Year as a national holiday.
And with that many people celebrating,
you can bet their wallets are getting a great workout.
Lunar New Year is about hanging out with your family, but it’s also all about the food.
Chinese New Year snacks don’t come cheap.
A box of pineapple tarts easily costs about U.S. $15,
while shrimp rolls can cost about $13.
The most expensive and popular Chinese New Year snack though
is likely to be this sweet pork jerky, also known as bak kwa.
Bak kwa prices start from about $38 a kilogram.
Food prices go up before Lunar New Year all over Asia,
and contribute to hefty spending over the season.
In Singapore, the average expected expenditure
per person is $1,890 for the festive season.
About one-fifth of that goes to food.
In Indonesia and Malaysia, the intended spend per person last year was $800,
while the average Malaysian respondent expects to spend about $1,000.
For a bit of context, Americans said they planned to spend an average
of about $900 on Christmas presents last December.
In all three Southeast Asian countries, consumers expect to spend money
mostly on food, travel and red packets.
Wait, what’s a red packet?
Called hongbao in Chinese, they’re one of Chinese New Year’s best-known traditions.
Red packets are gifts of money given by married people to unmarried people.
So if you have a large family. you have to give money
to all your younger and unmarried relatives.
In Singapore, the going rate is between $6 and $10.
So you may get asked by relatives when you're getting married,
but think of it this way,
you’re getting paid!
In China, many people are starting to give digital red packets
through the Chinese mobile social platform, WeChat.
WeChat only introduced electronic red packets in 2014,
but the growth has been phenomenal.
At midnight on Chinese New Year Eve,
WeChat recorded 760,000 transactions in one second.
WeChat rival, Alipay, reported that 250 million red packets
were sent on its platform on New Year’s Eve,
with an average of $28 in each red packet.
The Chinese tech giants are using these digital red packets
to grow their mobile payment users,
and it’s these red packets that have helped to propel WeChat Pay into dominance.
Jack Ma even called WeChat’s red packet strategy, “A Pearl Harbor attack”
on his platform, AliPay.
In China, factories and businesses shut down for the one week public holiday,
resulting in the biggest mass migration of people on Earth.
More than 414 million Chinese people will be taking planes and trains.
That's almost the entire population of the European Union on the move.
Many are migrant workers heading home, but many choose to go on vacation as well.
Domestic travel spending was up 15.9% last year to $61.5 billion,
with top destinations being Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
But many affluent Chinese travelers are also looking to travel abroad.
Outbound tourism increased 7% last year,
with spending amounting to $14.5 billion.
Top destination cities are Hong Kong, Bangkok and Tokyo,
with travelers expected to spend an average of nine days abroad.
Chinese New Year is a major spending season in China.
Last year, Chinese consumers spent $140 billion
in retail and catering services in one week.
While Chinese New Year had little impact outside of China a decade ago,
the size of the Chinese economy now means that it has a huge impact globally.
Stock market trading slows in many Asian countries,
while countries and businesses will be rolling out the red carpet
for the six million Chinese travelers expected this year.
The Chinese New Year is such a big deal, it even impacts trade.
Usually, China has a trade surplus with the U.S.,
but during Lunar New Year, China buys a lot and exports less.
Last year, the celebrations contributed to China posting
its first monthly trade deficit since 2014.
For the rest of us, it’s time to kick back and enjoy the festive season.
Happy Lunar New Year!
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