China Focus: Key words of 2015 Lunar New Year holiday

Tuesday was the last day of the Chinese lunar New Year holiday. Here are some prominent issues arising during the Spring Festival of the Year of Sheep.

ANTI-CORRUPTION

An anti-corruption storm swept through China last year and the public saw the effects during the annual Spring Festival TV gala. At least three pieces in the China Central Television (CCTV) gala had anti-corruption themes.

A stand-up routine, "It's not Mine" depicted an corrupt official who took bribes including a car, a house and also a woman, if a woman can fairly be described as a bribe.

Another stand-up routine focused on the social phenomenon of "making friends" through bribery in order to get things done, which no longer works, as the sketch showed.

A short play satirized officials using public funds and taking advantage of their superiors' hobbies to get promoted.

Real anti-corruption efforts continued as the holiday approached. On February 16, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) announced the prosecution of five provincial-level officials for graft.

On Feb. 17, the dismissal of Zhu Mingguo as head of Guangdong political advisors was announced. Zhu is suspected of crimes including accepting bribes.

In 2014, the anti-graft drive brought down scores of ranking officials, including Zhou Yongkang, former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee; and Xu Caihou, former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.

A total of 71,748 officials were punished last year for breaking anti-graft rules.

E-LUCKY MONEY

Over 100 million people sent gifts of money via mobile apps during the holiday, according to Alipay, Alibaba's payment system.

Last Wednesday (lunar New Year's Eve) till Saturday was the peak for gift money with a total of 4 billion yuan (about 650 million U.S. dollars) sent.

Giving "lucky money" in electronic form has become a trendy spin on the Chinese tradition of giving red envelopes (hongbao) filled with money to children on New Year's Eve. The custom is more than 1,000 years old.

Alipay's figures suggested that, unlike the tradition of elders giving red envelopes to children, over half of those sending "e-hongbao" were people in their 20s from the cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Several Internet companies, including Tencent, Alibaba, Sina and Baidu, have red envelope features. Users must link their debit or credit cards to their accounts to send the money.

OVERSEAS TRAVEL BOOM

While most Chinese still observed the tradition of family reunions at New Year, millions spent the holiday abroad.

According to the State Administration of Tourism, the number of outbound tourists hit 5.2 million during the holiday, up 10 percent from last year.

Southeast Asian countries, Republic of Korea and Japan were the most favored destinations. From luxury brands to toilet seat covers, Chinese tourists had made the holiday a duty-free shopping spree.

Japanese media reported that the increase in Chinese tourists at this time of the year has changed department stores' business environment. Sales usually plunge after Japan's January sales.

As the number of Chinese people traveling abroad increases, tourism industry insiders appealed travelers to mind their manners.

Ctrip, a NASDAQ-listed travel agency, published a report on Chinese travelers' behavior abroad in January, which claimed most of the 1 million tourists using its services to travel overseas do abide by local regulations. According to the report, those with unwelcome behavior accounted for no more than one in 10,000.

IMPROVED MANUFACTURING ACTIVITY

The manufacturing sector did well during the holiday period, as the HSBC preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed a slight improvement.

The HSBC flash manufacturing PMI for February rose to a four-month high of 50.1 from a reading of 49.7 in January, HSBC said in the report on Wednesday. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that represents contraction.

The output sub-index stood at 50.8 in February, up from 50.3 in January, a five-month high, according to the monthly report.

"Today's data point to a marginal improvement in the Chinese manufacturing sector going into the Chinese New Year period in February. However, domestic economic activity is likely to remain sluggish and external demand looks uncertain," said HSBC chief China economist Qu Hongbin. Endi