Old calendars from 1996 back in vogue for 2024

A quirk of calendar alignment has sparked a nostalgic trend in China, with people snapping up vintage 1996 calendars to celebrate the new year. The year 2024 and 1996 share the same leap year structure and a Monday New Year's Day, making their calendars identical.

Data from Xianyu, a popular online resale platform, reveals a sixfold increase in searches for 1996 calendars in the past week, with transactions reaching record highs.

"It feels magical when you even compare the Sundays!" exclaimed a man surnamed Li, born in 1996.

He commemorated the year's calendar twin with a 69-yuan ($9.60) purchase of a 1996 wall calendar featuring Hong Kong star Aaron Kwok, declaring it a worthy fan investment.

Xianyu has reported a surge in both listings and purchases of 1996 calendars since Jan 1. On Jan 9, over 400 users searched for the unique calendars, pushing the average price to around 94 yuan. Some items, like calendars featuring popular characters like Mickey Mouse or Ultraman, have seen their value climb over 30 times.

However, it is worth noting that this calendar recurrence only applies to the Gregorian calendar, with no similar pattern for the traditional Chinese lunar calendar.

Some sellers go beyond full calendars, offering individual pages from 9.9 yuan to 35 yuan each. A single page from a 1970s calendar fetched 35 yuan, while a 1996 page commanded 27 yuan. Completing a calendar solely through individual pages could cost 9,882 yuan, for example.

Justifying the high prices, one seller emphasized the preserved nature of these vintage calendars. "They're not just paper," they explained, "but invaluable memories."