ExplainerExplained: The economic importance of China’s Lunar New Year as the Year of the Rat begins

Known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rat began on Friday with family reunions across the world’s most populous nation

The outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus, though, has complicated one of the planet’s greatest migrations and could hit revenues for retail sales and at the box office

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The Lunar New Year is China’s peak pork consuming season, as it is seen as a symbol of wealth. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00am, 25 Jan 2020Updated: 2:31pm, 17 Feb 2020

Families across China celebrated the beginning of its new year on Friday, which began with one of the planet’s greatest migrations, and will continue with a month of nationwide factory closures along with a spending spree that has the potential to have a big seasonal impact on the economy.

Known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, all of China, the most populous country in the world, takes a holiday at once to mark the occasion, drawing comparisons with Thanksgiving, Christmas or the Super Bowl in the United States.

Families increase spending on food, drinks, holidays and entertainment, with the Lunar New Year also the busiest period for China’s film industry.

During chunyun, the 40-day travel period that runs from January 10 until February 18, workers return home, making it also the busiest period for rail and air travel.

Around 440 million passengers are expected to travel by rail this year, a year-on-year increase of 32.6 million, or 8 per cent, according to estimates by the National Railway Administration.

China’s aviation authority predicts that civil aviation passenger traffic will hit 79 million, up 8.4 per cent compared to last year, which would be a record high.

This year, however, the coronavirus outbreak is an added complication as authorities try to contain the spread of the outbreak in China, which has already claimed fatalities and affected hundreds of people, with cases also reported in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.