During the seven-day May Day holiday season, which ended Saturday, China's retail sales of consumer goods totaled 240 billion yuan (about US$29 billion), up 17 percent year on year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce on Sunday.

The retail sales in the catering sector grew some 20 percent, the ministry acknowledged. A branch restaurant of the Quanjude Peking Roast Duck Corp. in downtown Qianmen area of the national capital achieved an average daily business income of 936,000 yuan (US$113,200), and it turned out to be the most profitable one in the country during the May Day holiday.

The sales of household appliances were also brisk during the holiday period. In case of Hangzhou, the scenic capital city of eastern Zhejiang Province, the sales of household appliance more than doubled.

China currently has three "Golden Week" holidays every year, namely, traditional Spring Festival or the Chinese Lunar New Year season, the International Labor Day holiday period starting May 1, and the National Day period in the first week of October. This new holiday scheme was worked out by the State Council, or the central government, in 1999 with an aim to spur domestic demand, stimulate consumption, and restructure economy. As these prolonged holiday periods turned out to be successful or "golden" for the national economy, so they have been known popularly as "golden weeks."

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2005)