As China celebrated its most important festival, the Chinese Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, foreign companies across the country cashed in on the celebrations, capitalizing on the country's mammoth consumption power.

 

"Dragon dancing," a traditional Chinese dance and acrobatic performance, attracted hordes of shoppers in front of a Japanese department store in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

 

Adorned with traditional Lunar New Year decorations, the Chengdu outlet of Ito-Yokado Co Ltd also handed out free nian gao (Lunar New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) and dog-shaped decorations to customers (This year is the "Year of the Dog" in accordance with Chinese lunar calendar).

 

"We began to work out sales strategies and promotional activities four months ago," said Nobutaka Shiroki, general manager of the Japanese chain store.

 

"Our efforts have paid off because turnover over the past week is almost five times the average," Shiroki said.

 

For him, the Spring Festival is always the busiest period in the year. In addition, he usually gets valuable commercial information for next year's sales.

 

The Spring Festival is "vigorous, traditional and busy," Shiroki said.

 

The movement of a huge number of people during this peak period creates great business opportunities, said Peter Ho, manager of a Carrefour store in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

 

"We should seize the opportunity to create profits," said Ho, who has not had a day off this past week.

 

Chengdu-based Kempinski Hotel failed to draw in the customers last year due to a lack of promotions, according to Liu Yanli, manager of public relations.

 

"But this year, we offered festival banquets, decorated the hotel in the traditional Chinese way, and offered gifts to customers. All these were quite effective," Liu said.

 

More than 500,000 foreign-funded companies operate across China. Foreign direct investments in 2005 was US$60.3 billion, according to official statistics.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2006)