There's money in moods

The harbingers of Friday's Spring Festival, at least for me, are not the ubiquitous traditional red lanterns nor my parents' busy preparations in my home province Anhui for the family reunion dinner. Instead, they are emojis, the most exciting segment of China's digital economy.

Emojis are making sure millennials - people like me, born in the late 1990s and 2000s, and the mainstay of cyberspace - wouldn't miss out on all the spring-time fun.

These days, my WeChat space is saturated with a plethora of festive emojis, be it an adorable duck shaking its head and saying "Happy New Year" or a cutesy meditating monk waiting for a red envelope gift.