China's express delivery volume totaled 80.16 billion pieces in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 23.1 percent, the State Post Bureau reported on Monday.
In the first half of the year, the total volume of intra-city express delivery business was 7.42 billion pieces, a year-on-year increase of 20.6 percent, according to the Bureau's data. The total volume of inter-city express delivery business reached 71.09 billion pieces, a year-on-year increase of 23.4 percent, and the total volume of international/Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan express delivery business was 1.65 billion pieces, a year-on-year increase of 21 percent.
In the first six months, the postal industry's business income (excluding the direct operating income of the Postal Savings Bank) totaled 806.36 billion yuan (about 111 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 10.6 percent. Among them, the business income from express delivery totaled 653 billion yuan (about 89.9 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 15.1 percent.
In the first half of the year, the proportion of express delivery business handled in the eastern, central and western Chinese regions was 73, 18.5 and 8.5 percent respectively. Compared with the same period last year, the proportion of express delivery business in the eastern region dropped by 2.2 percentage points, while the proportion of express delivery business in the central and western regions increased by 1.3 and 0.9 percentage points respectively.
China's express delivery grows 23.1 pct in H1
A festive atmosphere is building up as people across China have been making preparations to ring in the Spring Festival next week, with lights and decorations set everywhere, and with New Year goods markets all seeing booming sales.
The Spring Festival, which marks the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important annual holiday in China, when people across the country return to their hometowns for Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations and family reunion.
In Xi'an City of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, a grand lantern show is in its final stage of preparation before opening to the public ahead of the eve of the 2025 Chinese Lunar New Year. To be lit up on Wednesday, the large light sets presented at the event will draw numerous visitors, with lanterns that replicate 38 cultural relics as the highlight.
Buying New Year flowers has been a custom for Chinese people. In Yancheng City of east China's Jiangsu Province, various flowers which have auspicious meanings are already in high demand.
This year, tulips bred locally have been put on sale, and quickly become a favorable choice for many customers.
"I have never seen this kind of flower before. I think it is really bright-colored. Therefore, I decided to buy some to enhance the festive atmosphere at home," said Zhang Jinjian, a local resident.
The Anchang ancient town in Shaoxing City of east China's Zhejiang Province has a time-honored custom of making aired sausages and spiced duck.
As the Spring Festival draws near, plenty of visitors and tourists choose to purchase these local delicacies as ingredients for their Chinese New Year feast.
"The number of tourists has been increasing, so the sales of our spiced meat have been quite good. Compared with the same period of last year, our sales is expected to increase by about 50,000 yuan (about 6,835 U.S. dollars). We will earn an additional 200,000 to 300,000 yuan (27,335 to 41,000 U.S. dollars) in sales during this whole winter," said Yang Jing, owner of a local spiced meat shop.
In southwest China's Yunnan Province, the "Tiaocai dance" is a time-honored tradition of the Yi ethnic minority group. The dance is presented in the form of serving dishes while dancing to the rhythm. It usually happens on a joyous or grand occasion.
Since the most significant annual festival is around the corner, Yi people have dressed up in traditional costumes, and got ready to welcome the arrival of the Chinese Lunar New Year with the special dance.
People across China make preparations to welcome Spring Festival