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Thanks to big data technology, we’re now able to draw a summary of consumers’ holiday-spending preferences faster than ever. So what are the Chinese doing this Labor¹ Day holiday and why? My colleague Zhong Shi joins me in the studio with the latest info.

Q1. Zhong Shi, we’ve now come to the end of the three-day Labor Day holiday; a time in China that sees a lot of travelling and shopping. What are the new trends this year?

Zhong: Well James, the data is provided by the tech firm IZP and has been derived² from the activities of two-thirds of China’s internet users. And, frankly³, I’m a bit surprised by some of the trends they indicate. According to the data, the most popular holiday-spending activity this year has been multi-player games. That’s followed by sports, farm stays, micro-tourism-which I’ll explain in a minute-charity, craftsmanship⁴, planting vegetables and flash mobs. Farm stays have grown most in popularity, by more than 23 percent, because they’re easy to get to, have convenient food catering⁵ and reasonable prices. On the opposite end, micro tourism which means spontaneous and less planned travel, has dropped the most in popularity due to concerns of overcrowding during the holiday. We’re also seeing a trend of people choosing to hang out with complete strangers for this holiday. And they cite relieving pressure, getting a distraction⁶ and curiosity as the top three reasons for that choice. Quite interesting findings, James?

Q2. I understand that the big data for consumers’ spending preferences have also come in. Where have the Chinese people been spending their money?

Zhong: You’re right James. For the first quarter of this year, five items have made to the top of Chinese consumers’ shopping list. Clothing comes on top, and is followed by food, entertainment, skincare and grooming⁷, and education. Compared to last year, spending on entertainment has gone up the most, by nearly 17 percent. But that on housing has dropped over 4 percent because potential house buyers have adopted a wait and watch approach. The big data also predicts that in-store purchases will still be the primary means of consumption, but the proportion of it will further drop in 2014. The proportion of online shopping is set to increase to about 8.7 percent. The people that shop online most frequently are those between 30 and 39 years old. On average, they shop more than 7 times a month. Mostly, they buy clothes, food and cosmetics⁸.