The first Lunar New Year after the successful application of the Chinese Spring Festival for World Heritage status, overseas orders surged!
The 2025 Spring Festival is a moment of extraordinary significance, as it is the first Lunar New Year after the successful application of the Chinese Spring Festival for World Heritage status. This glorious moment will take place on December 4, 2024, when the Spring Festival is included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO, which will not only make every Chinese feel extremely proud, but also allow the world to have a deeper understanding and respect for Chinese traditional culture. The successful application of the Spring Festival for World Heritage status is undoubtedly a landmark event for the Chinese New Year to go global, which has given this ancient and charming festival a new lease of life and vitality.
Global response after the successful application of the Spring Festival for World Heritage status
After the successful application of the Spring Festival for World Heritage status, its influence quickly spread around the world. Overseas consumers have become more and more interested in Chinese traditional culture, and they have begun to understand and experience this charming festival more deeply. At the same time, this success has further ignited the enthusiasm of overseas Chinese to buy New Year goods. They have purchased New Year goods with traditional Chinese elements through various channels to celebrate this important festival.
In the overseas market, a trend of “Spring Festival fever” has quietly emerged. The demand for various New Year products continues to rise, and the supplies related to the Spring Festival are even more popular. From holiday decorations to food, traditional costumes and gifts, the Spring Festival has become a popular commodity that overseas consumers are scrambling to buy.
Spring Festival accessories are popular overseas
As an important part of the Spring Festival, Spring Festival accessories shine in the overseas market. From traditional red lanterns, couplets, window decorations to modern creative decorations, these products with traditional Spring Festival elements have triggered a sales boom overseas.
According to authoritative data from Cainiao Global Supply Chain, the inventory of New Year gift boxes in US overseas warehouses has been soaring, successfully surpassing Christmas decorations and topping the list of inventory. Its order volume has exploded, surging nearly 30 times compared with the same period last year. Behind this data, it shows the strong interest and strong demand of overseas consumers for the Spring Festival culture.
Not only that, some Chinese New Year goods with Chinese innovative elements are also favored by overseas consumers. For example, handicrafts such as wood carvings and teapots have increased by nearly 150% year-on-year, and trendy play products such as claw machines and capsule toys have increased by more than 100%. In particular, the zodiac “blind box” with the “flavor of the New Year” has become the favorite of overseas consumers, with sales increasing by as much as 200% year-on-year.
In Southeast Asia, due to the large number of overseas Chinese, their demand for Spring Festival products is even stronger. According to data from Silverpush, 63% of Vietnamese consumers have plans to purchase New Year necessities, such as couplets and New Year clothing. In particular, clothes with the Year of the Snake pattern and traditional Chinese elements have attracted much attention during the Spring Festival and have become hot-selling products.
On cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Temu, the sales of various holiday decorations and supplies have also shown a rapid growth trend. Snake Year red envelopes, couplets, window decorations, etc. have become popular choices for decorating homes, and creative products such as chocolate gold coins have won the favor of consumers and sales have skyrocketed.
In order to meet the needs of overseas markets, Chinese manufacturers are also constantly innovating and upgrading. For example, 70 Chinese knot production villages in Tancheng, Linyi, Shandong have seen a surge in orders. In order to cater to the preferences of overseas consumers, designers have incorporated various trendy elements into traditional craftsmanship to make Chinese knots more fashionable and novel. Meanwhile, in Tuntou Village, Gaocheng District, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, villagers known as the “No. 1 Chinese Lantern Village” are also working overtime to make lanterns to meet the needs of the holiday market.
Chinese fireworks, mahjong machines, etc. have become new favorites overseas
In addition to Spring Festival ornaments, Chinese fireworks and mahjong machines have also become new favorites of overseas consumers. Setting off fireworks and firecrackers has been a tradition of the Chinese people for thousands of years, and now this tradition has also been warmly welcomed by overseas consumers. In European countries such as Germany, despite strict firecracker bans and fines, local residents’ enthusiasm for setting off fireworks during the New Year is still irresistible. According to foreign media reports, the German Fireworks Industry Association expects that the sales of fireworks products in stores this year will increase by 15% compared with last year.
As a unique business card of traditional Chinese culture, mahjong has also been loved by more and more foreigners. On Taobao’s overseas platform, the sales of New Year goods continue to rise, among which the sales of automatic mahjong machines have surged by an astonishing 600%. On social platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, players have shared their moments of playing games with family and friends on automatic mahjong machines, showing the charm of mahjong, a traditional Chinese culture.
The successful application of the Spring Festival for World Heritage status not only means that the festival rituals and cultural connotations contained in the Spring Festival have been more and more widely recognized, but also brings new opportunities for Chinese cross-border e-commerce sellers. They can use this unique cultural attribute to develop unique products to occupy the market more accurately. At the same time, this also provides Chinese manufacturers with a broader market space and more development opportunities.
In short, the 2025 Spring Festival, as the first Lunar New Year after the successful application of the Chinese Spring Festival for World Heritage status, has extraordinary significance. It not only allows overseas consumers to have a deeper understanding and experience of Chinese traditional culture, but also brings new opportunities and challenges to Chinese manufacturers and cross-border e-commerce sellers. Let us look forward to the future Spring Festival becoming a more international and diversified festival!