Residents of Shandong province in East China are enjoying a shopping spree for the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday as a Spring Festival consumption season has been launched across all 16 cities in the province.

Leveraging subsidies and discounts to drive consumption, the consumption season, which was launched on Jan 18 and runs until the early of March, is an effort by provincial authorities to implement the key task of the Central Economic Work Conference for 2025 to "vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency, and comprehensively expand domestic demand."

Last year, Shandong achieved a gross regional product of nearly 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion), with a growth rate of 5.7 percent, outperforming the national average by around 0.8 percentage points for the third year in a row. Consumption played a crucial role as a "ballast" and stabilizer, with the province's total retail sales of consumer goods reaching 3.8 trillion yuan, growing by 5 percent, serving as a strong and stable driving force for economic development.

Policies promoting consumer activities such as trade-ins for new products, upgrading traditional consumption, and expanding emerging consumption were introduced last year, permeating various aspects of life for the people. Last year, Shandong focused on supporting the trade-in of consumer goods in eight sectors, including automobiles and household appliances, driving sales of around 127 billion yuan and benefiting nearly 5 million households in the province.

At the launch ceremony of the consumption season, consumers showed heightened enthusiasm. They found that the means of promoting consumption are more diverse, with a wider scope and stronger intensity. There is also closer interaction between consumption and industries. By directly engaging with consumers through preferential measures, producers found it much easier to understand real consumer demands from the market, thereby further optimizing and adjusting the supply side.

As a manufacturing powerhouse, Shandong plans to harness the new momentum from the close interaction between consumption and production, ushering in another opportunity for industrial transformation, upgrading, and high-quality development.

This proactive approach towards boosting consumption in Shandong promises to not only stimulate economic growth but also foster a symbiotic relationship between consumers and industries, potentially propelling the province towards a new era of manufacturing advancement and high-quality development.