Spring Festival fever is building in China with the year of the sheep in the Chinese lunar calendar just over a week away. Sheep toys, ornaments and gifts, which symbolize good luck and fortune in the upcoming new year, are becoming hot these days among happy shoppers.
The villagers in northwestern China's Baoji City are making a fortune these days with their making of clay sheep artifacts. They have received more than 200,000 orders from home and abroad.
In Chongqing Municipality in southwest China, merchandise having the image of sheep have also proved to be bestsellers. And postcard sales are also in the rise with the sales volume hitting over US$85,000.
In Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China, various sheep toys have become favorites with children.
In Harbin in northeastern China, sheep ornaments and paper cuts are the most eye-catching among the goods laid out in the market.
In Xinjiang Uygur and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions, the sale of sheep ornaments of local ethnic flavor has also peaked.
(CCTV.com January 25, 2003)
