Chinese shop lavishly for Spring Festival even

Xinhua, February 3, 2011

Wang Qin is busy dealing with customers at her nuts stall at a wholesale market in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, as China's Spring Festival draws near.

"I've already hired two helpers but still can't handle the business. I am planning to hire another two," Wang said.

The vendor does not believe the current high price of goods is denting Chinese enthusiasm for buying things for the Spring Festival, a time for family reunions, which falls on Thursday.

"Nuts prices soared before the festival season. There is little room left for further hikes," Wang said.

Wang formerly sold candy. That business had hundreds of yuan of sales each day. The nut business generates thousands of yuan in sales each day.

"Prices this year are higher than the previous years for sure. We just get used to it. Anyhow, families like to eat nuts, like walnuts and melon seeds, when chatting during the festival," said a buyer surnamed Song.

"People are more willing to spend and endure long queues for the Spring Festival," said Xu Xiaoyue, a professor with the Chinese Culture Research Academy of Nanjing University.

Inflation in China has risen. The consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose to a 28-month high of 5.1 percent in November.

In December, it dropped to 4.6 percent but experts worry the figure will rise again in January because of festival factors.

The full-year CPI climbed 3.3 percent in 2010, exceeding the central government's official ceiling target of 3 percent.

The growth was mainly driven by an 11.7 percent surge in food prices, which account for one-third of the basket of goods used to calculate China's CPI.

China's retail sales have been robust, with the country working to boost domestic demand.

Retail sales rose 18.4 percent year on year to 15.4554 trillion yuan (2.34 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2010.