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Family atmosphere still holiday goal

China Daily | Updated: 2021-01-27 09:15
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Although Yang Yang likes traveling, the Beijing resident has decided to stay at home for the upcoming Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 12.

The bank employee has preordered takeout from Quanjude, one of China's best-known roast duck chain restaurants, for his family banquet on Lunar New Year's Eve.

"It's the family atmosphere that matters for the celebration," the 34-year-old said.

Compared with last Lunar New Year, when their family trip to the resort province of Hainan was shortened by the COVID-19 epidemic, Yang feels more at ease.

"After a year's efforts in containing the spread of the virus, we have become used to life with prevention and control measures," he said.

Chinese people are embracing their most important festival this year with a variety of planned celebrations, despite the recent local resurgence of the coronavirus in some areas.

The Chinese mainland reported 82 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, including 69 locally transmitted and 13 arriving from outside the mainland, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.

In Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, festival decorations have filled the grocery shelves at Gemdale Plaza in Hongshan district. Promotional activities have started for gifts including candies, nuts, dairy products and fruit, drawing customers.

Some vendors said they have been busy since early this month as an increasing number of customers came to shop in preparation for the festival.

Wearing a mask, Ma Yu, from the city of Huanggang, Hubei, packed her shopping cart with oil, rice and flour. She also bought red couplets, a tradition for the festival, to decorate her apartment.

"My husband and I have planned to stay put given the epidemic, but the festival atmosphere should not be missed," said Ma, a clerk at a company in Wuhan.

While some people like Ma have chosen to stay where they are, others are heading home while taking various precautionary measures.

Guo Haotian, who works for an information technology company in Beijing, bought a train ticket home to Jincheng, Shanxi province.

"It's a pity that I didn't return home for the festival last year because of the epidemic," said Guo, 27, adding that he decided to return this year partly because a new high-speed railway has halved the time it takes to travel from Beijing to his hometown to five hours.

He had a negative result from a nucleic acid test taken within seven days of his trip and will quarantine at home for 14 days.

"Although I cannot visit my friends or extended relatives, it's a precious opportunity to stay with my parents," he said.

To cope with the heightened transmission risk that comes with the annual mass migration, the National Health Commission is requiring people to have a negative result for COVID-19 taken within seven days of returning to rural areas, as well as a 14-day home quarantine upon arrival.

The Ministry of Transport estimates that China will see around 1.7 billion passenger trips during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush starting on Thursday, up more than 10 percent year-on-year.

Xinhua

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