Movies and shopping popular among residents over holidays

How do people staying in Shanghai spend their Spring Festival holiday?

They visited cinemas, parks, shops, exhibitions and libraries after a boisterous celebration of the beginning of the Year of the Snake.

Moviegoers in Shanghai splashed more than 200 million yuan (US$27.5 million) in cinemas between January 29 and February 1, according to Beacon data.

It led other cities with China's film industry setting a new milestone with its box office revenue in the period reaching a record 5.75 billion yuan, surpassing the previous high of 5.73 billion yuan set in 2021.

Animated fantasy "Ne Zha 2" was the most popular movie in Shanghai, trailed by "Detective Chinatown 1900" and "Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force."

Meanwhile, major shopping hubs in the city geared up to attract people and made their first fortune in the Year of the Snake.

Bicester, an outlets-style shopping center in the Pudong New Area, has seen people lining up at the doors of some shops that offer big discounts, while stores under Bailian Group unveiled various promotions, with gold jewellery particularly popular.

A small surprise was that libraries were also full of people, who sought to give their Chinese New Year a taste of calm and gain.

Not only the iconic Shanghai Library was open to the public as usual, but also all district and community-level libraries, making it a choice for people in the city to spend the holiday.