Spending over China’s week-long Spring Festival holiday, which ran February 11 to 17, exceeded 2019 holiday spending by 4.9 percent, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Total revenue from the retail and catering sectors rose 28.7 percent year-on-year during this holiday period, reaching 821 billion yuan ($127.1 billion). Sales of monitored retail companies in jewellery grew by more than 160 percent, and clothing sales grew around 30 percent, compared to the same period last year.

Last year’s Spring Festival holiday period was interrupted by lockdowns in parts of the country following the outbreak of Covid-19. This year, though China’s battle with the virus is largely under control, people were still encouraged to stay put rather than journey home as they traditionally would to be with family for the holidays, creating concerns about whether holiday spirits, and accompanying spending, would be as robust as retailers hoped.