Instead of going home for family reunions or traveling during the 2024 Spring Festival holiday, some young individuals took the opportunity to build side businesses.
For Zhao, a designer born in the 1990s, the Spring Festival is not relaxing. On the first morning of the Lunar New Year, he was at a client’s house to feed their cat. After cleaning the litter box, feeding the cat, and sterilizing the area, she took pictures to send to the owner. Zhao’s day included visits to 34 homes, which didn’t end until after 10 p.m.
“Due to the increasing number of pet owners, it becomes inconvenient for some to bring their pets with them during the Spring Festival,” Zhao said. “So, I started getting requests for pet care services in January.”
Orders for home pet feeding services increased between the 28th day of the 12th lunar month in 2023 and the 6th day of the first lunar month in 2024, with an average of 30 visits per day. Prices per visit vary from 30 to 50 yuan ($4.20 to $7.00), generating an income of over 10,000 yuan.
Many pet sitters earned more than 10,000 yuan during the Spring Festival holiday. Ke Le, a pet sitter in Shanghai, noticed that prices for home pet feeding services rose during the holiday season, from 70 to 120 yuan per visit.
In addition to feeding livestock at home, young individuals are increasingly turning to setting up stalls to earn money. With the Lantern Festival approaching, selling lanterns has become a popular choice among them.
“At first I tried to sell lanterns inside my apartment complex but I couldn’t sell anything. However, after moving to a good place at the entrance of the shopping mall, sales suddenly increased,” said Ran Ran from Zhengzhou , Central China’s Henan Province.
Photo shows lanterns made by Ran Ran. (Photo/Cover News)
Before the Spring Festival, Ran set up a lantern stall in the city’s Shangdu Archaeological Park. He explained that lanterns, as cultural and creative products, have a selling window from the New Year to the Lantern Festival.
Ran operated her stall for four days during the Spring Festival holiday, selling a total of 200 lanterns. After accounting for expenses, his daily income came to about 1,000 yuan.
The wholesale market in Yiwu, China’s eastern Zhejiang Province, has been identified as a key driver behind booming lantern sales. Reports indicate that a number of merchants there sold more than 100,000 dragon lanterns.
(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
