Chinese expert urges Western countries to view rise of DeepSeek fairly, as firm faces scrutiny

 

DeepSeek

A Chinese expert on Friday called on Western countries to view the rise of Chinese technology firms fairly, as Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek faces growing scrutiny from some countries following its rise in the international market. 

Italy's data protection authority announced Thursday it had blocked DeepSeek's AI services, citing insufficient transparency about how the company handles personal information. The move, reported by Reuters, follows Ireland's Data Protection Commission's request for details from DeepSeek on how it processes Irish user data.

France's privacy watchdog, the CNIL, said on Thursday that it plans to investigate DeepSeek's AI system operations and potential privacy risks. "The CNIL's AI department is currently analyzing this tool," a CNIL spokesperson said on Thursday, according to Reuters.

Technology should be shared and used for the benefit of all humanity, rather than being monopolized, Liu Dingding, a veteran tech industry analyst, told the Global Times on Friday. 

"Western countries should view the success of DeepSeek's R1 AI model fairly, allowing more people to enjoy the conveniences brought by technological advancement, instead of imposing restrictions," Liu Dingding said.

Meanwhile, DeepSeek is gaining traction in the international market, including adoption by some US tech giants. US-based chipmaker Nvidia announced on Thursday that the Chinese startup's model is now available on its NIM platform for enterprises to deploy, highlighting its growing acceptance in the US market. 

Microsoft revealed on Wednesday that it has added DeepSeek's R1 AI model to its Azure cloud platform and GitHub developer tools.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that DeepSeek's AI models are "innovation that drives efficiency," when asked about the Chinese AI startup during an earnings call on Thursday. "In general, I think innovation that drives efficiency is a good thing. And, you know, that's what you see in that model," said Cook, according to Yahoo Finance.

The tech community, including those directly involved in AI development and academia, acknowledges DeepSeek's innovations as substantial milestones, Liu Wei, director of the human-machine interaction and cognitive engineering laboratory with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, told the Global Times on Friday.

However, for some Western countries, China's sudden emergence of groundbreaking achievements in the AI field, as exemplified by DeepSeek's rise, may have caught them off guard, and they need to find ways to respond to China's technological progress, said Liu Dingding.

The so-called restrictive measures, often justified by so-called concerns over personal information protection, to some extent reflect these countries' attitudes toward China's rise in technology, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.

However, as an open-source platform, DeepSeek's development will not be significantly hindered by these measures, said Wang,

In the US, two congressmen raised so-called national security concerns by urging the Trump administration to restrict exports of Nvidia's advanced AI chips to China, singling out DeepSeek as a key recipient of these chips. 

Their letter urged US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to "consider the potential national security benefits of placing an export control on Nvidia's H20 and chips of similar sophistication," Reuters reported on Friday.

It is unlikely that these restrictive measures will succeed in containing China's technological development, as the rise of DeepSeek's AI model serves as evidence, according to Liu Dingding.

In Asia, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi took a measured approach during a Tuesday press conference, noting that no specific regulations targeting DeepSeek had been enacted but affirming that Japan would closely track global AI trends, Nikkei reported on Thursday.

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Malaysia launches Chatbot to combat fake news

 

CYBERJAYA: WhatsApp users in the country can now play an active role in stopping the spread of fake news by using the new chatbot “Aifa” to verify text messages before forwarding them to others, says Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

He said the chatbot known as Aifa (Artificial Intelligence Fact-Check Assistant) can verify text messages in four languages: English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil.

“This chatbot on WhatsApp enables users to verify the messages they receive before they decide to forward them to others.

“We have among the fastest Internet speeds in South-East Asia, and fake news seems to spread more quickly.

“A few weeks ago, there was news that Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz was leaving Umno to join PKR, which was not true, but it went viral.

“Then, we had the one where Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh was alleged to be the daughter of the founder of YTL Corporation Bhd.

“Another was the fake news of 1.2 million Chinese citizens being in the country,” he said at the launch of Aifa at the Malaysian Multimedia and Communications Commission (MCMC) headquarters here yesterday.

Fahmi said Aifa would be able to verify if such text messages were true.

He added that the MCMC collaborated with strategic partners to develop and provide chatbot services on WhatsApp and the Sebenarnya.my portal.

Taking a spin: a MCMC staff member showing the aifa chatbot replies on Whatsapp.

“The chatbot initiative led by MCMC will serve as a platform to help users verify the accuracy of information spread through the application.

“Aifa would help the public quickly and easily verify and obtain accurate information, accelerate the response to false information online and strengthen the role of Sebenarnya.my in combating the spread of fake news in Malaysia,” he said.

Fahmi said Aifa uses algorithms and machine learning to match information with reliable sources, and then quickly provides users with accurate and verified information.

“Currently, Aifa only accepts input in text format. In the future, it will be capable of accepting input in various formats.

“From 2020 to Jan 27, 2025, a total of 25,114 fake news items have been removed.

“We found that lately, the situation has worsened whereby criminals are widely using fake news and deepfakes.

“The licensing of social media platforms is only a part of government initiatives. The King has agreed to the amendments to the MCMC Act to curb porn, cyberbullying and scams,” said the unity government spokesman.

According to the MCMC, the number of fake news items detected after fact-checking reached nearly 20,000 last year.

“In 2024, the MCMC requested the removal of 19,546 fake news items from various online platforms. Of that number, 17,245 pieces of content were removed after being verified as fake news by all the involved platforms.

“As of Monday, the MCMC has requested the removal of 1,575 fake news items. Of these, 1,233 fake news were removed by the relevant platforms,” said Fahmi.

On another matter, he said social media giant Meta has submitted its documents to secure an Application Service Provider (ASP) Class Licence in Malaysia, while discussions are still ongoing with Google and Microsoft.

“As of Monday, Meta has sent over several documents.

“We will process them – and we expect that within a reasonable timeframe, we will issue a licence to Meta.

“Regarding Google and Microsoft (which manages LinkedIn)... the MCMC is following up on several matters.

“Each party has its perspective, and we need to take action. We will not delay taking the necessary steps for too long,” said Fahmi.Google had previously argued that it is not a social media platform, but the ministry maintains that certain parts of its YouTube platform, such as YouTube Shorts, function like social media, similar to TikTok.

Meanwhile, X – formerly Twitter – had claimed to have fewer than eight million users in Malaysia, which exempts it from the licensing requirement.

As of today, WeChat, TikTok, and Telegram have received their licences.

The newly introduced regulatory requirement aims to tackle rising cybercrime, requiring social media platforms and messaging services with over eight million users in the country to obtain a licence or face legal action.This requirement came into effect on Jan 1.

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DeepSeek's AI should be a 'wakeup call' to US industry, it unveils hidden US market risk, top free downloads, effect on M’sia

Trump: China's low-cost AI should challenge American firms

 

MIAMI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Chinese startup DeepSeek's technology should act as spur for American companies and said it was good that companies in China have come up with a cheaper, faster method of artificial intelligence.

"The release of DeepSeek, AI from a Chinese company should be a wakeup call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win," Trump said in Florida.

Investors sold technology stocks across the globe on Monday over concerns the emergence of a low-cost Chinese artificial intelligence model would threaten the dominance of the current U.S.-based AI leaders.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a House Republican members conference meeting in Trump National Doral resort, in Miami, Florida, U.S. January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

"I've been reading about China and some of the companies in China, one in particular coming up with a faster method of AI and much less expensive method, and that's good because you don't have to spend as much money. I view that as a positive, as an asset," Trump said.

"I view that as a positive because you'll be doing that too, so you won't be spending as much, and you'll get the same result, hopefully," he said.

Trump said Chinese leaders had told him the United States had the most brilliant scientists in the world, and he indicated that if Chinese industry could come up with cheaper AI technology, U.S. companies would follow.

"We always have the ideas. We're always first. So I would say that's a positive that could be very much a positive development. So instead of spending billions and billions, you'll spend less, and you'll come up with, hopefully, the same solution," Trump said. -Reuters

DeepSeek unveils hidden US market risk

Clearly, it’s hard to know where the DeepSeek panic will lead. — Bloomberg

THE S&P 500 Index plummeted as much as 2.3% on Monday over DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup that developed a model competitive with the US’s very best – and, supposedly, on the cheap.

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen called it a “Sputnik moment,” a reference to the Russian satellite that set off the 1957-1960s Space Race.

Chip companies plummeted and so did many of the communications giants developing AI tools of their own.

But the ostensible pandemonium in the world’s biggest stock market was not as widespread as you might imagine, and it seemed to abate as the trading day wore on.

With DeepSeek hype still largely indistinguishable from reality, the main lasting lesson may be that diversification still matters.

Consider the following factoids about Monday, the worst intraday selloff of 2025:

> At the time of writing, 328 stocks on the S&P 500 were up.

> The median stock was up 0.7% and the average was down just 0.2%.

> Among sectors, healthcare, consumer staples, real estate and financials were all positive on the day.

> Information technology (IT) accounted for 95% of the index move.

> Nvidia Corp, which is behind cutting edge AI chips that are also eye-poppingly expensive, accounted for about two thirds of the decline on its own.

In other words, investors would have been in a privileged position on Monday morning if they had simply rebalanced their equity investments this year into equal-weight portfolios of large-cap stocks, instead of leaning into the increasingly AI-concentrated market-capitalisation- weighted S&P 500 Index or Nasdaq 100.

I’ll admit it: betting against the cap-weighted index has been a losing proposition for the past decade and a half, but concentration risk has become a more acute problem for investors in the past two years.

S&P 500 Index investors’ exposure to IT and communication services companies is at its highest since the dot-com bubble.

Overweight tech

Tech and communications services add up to 41% of the S&P 500. And just seven companies account for about a third of the entire index by weighting.

Nvidia alone had a greater weighting than five of the 11 sectors represented in the index.

That concentration is a big reason why a Goldman Sachs Group Inc report in October suggested that the S&P 500 would deliver an annualised total return of just 3% over the next decade (or only about 1% per year if you adjust for inflation).

“Our historical analyses show that it is extremely difficult for any firm to maintain high levels of sales growth and profit margins over sustained periods of time,” Goldman wrote at the time.

It’s always technically possible that today’s index giants continue to outperform, but history is working against us.

Similarly, the research suggests that market concentration is associated with greater volatility going forward.

If the market truly underwhelms over the next decade, it may well be in the form of a crash followed by a long, gruelling recovery – rather than 10 years of nearly flat real returns.

Fortunately, elementary mitigation strategies are easy to implement, and you don’t even need options (in fact, tail hedges are very inefficient in slow-moving bear markets like the dot-com bust).

The Goldman report suggested that the equal-weighted version of the S&P 500 could outperform the S&P 500 by 200-800 basis points in the decade.

Additionally, the juicy income benefits of bond ownership may give new life to 60/40-type mixed asset class portfolios.

And investors may finally take the opportunity to add some exposure to unloved international stocks, as well as small- and mid-capitalisation US stocks that can still benefit from a strong macroeconomic backdrop.

Clearly, it’s hard to know where the DeepSeek panic will lead.

Companies representing about 38% of the S&P 500 by weighting are expected to report earnings this week, and those announcements should provide some insight into how US executives are processing the developments and help us sort hype from reality.

Even in a scenario in which the narrative proves well-founded, it’s entirely possible that a cheaper path ahead for AI turns into a net positive for many publicly traded US companies, including companies developing AI-related software, and end users.

But first, Monday’s market action may shake index tracking investors out of their complacency.

For all the strengths of the US economy and stock market, the index’s composition is tilted strongly in favour of the spectacular AI story and the premise that we’ve correctly identified the market winners.

Odds are that we have the narrative at least a little bit wrong, and investors should expect to pay for their lack of true diversification with ongoing volatility and perhaps even subpar total returns. — Bloomberg

- by Jonathan Levin,  a columnist focused on US markets and economics. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.

Chinese AI app DeepSeek tops Apple App Store’s free downloads in China and US, outpacing ChatGPT

deepseek

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) app DeepSeek topped the Apple App Store's free downloads in both China and the US on Monday, outpacing ChatGPT in free downloads in the US. 

Following the momentum, DeepSeek-related stocks rallied strong on Monday's opening with multiple stocks opening more than 10 percent higher. 

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek in January released the latest open-source model DeepSeek-R1, which has achieved an important technological breakthrough - using pure deep learning methods to allow AI to spontaneously emerge with reasoning capabilities, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

In tasks such as mathematics, coding and natural language reasoning, the performance of this model is comparable to the leading models from heavyweights like OpenAI, according to DeepSeek.

The app soon sparked global attention, which has Silicon Valley marveling at how its programmers nearly matched American rivals despite using relevantly less-powerful chips, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Sunday. 

For instance, "Deepseek R1 is one of the most amazing and impressive breakthroughs I've ever seen," said Marc Andreessen, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who has been advising President Trump, in an X post on Friday.

Barrett Woodside, co-founder of the San Francisco AI hardware company Positron, said he and his colleagues have been abuzz about DeepSeek. "It's very cool," said Woodside, pointing to DeepSeek's open-source models in which the software code behind the AI model is made available free, per the WSJ report.

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DeepSeek and its effect on M’sia

Analysts are largely of the view that US president Donald Trump is unlikely to alter the directive set by former president Joe Biden regarding the limitations on exporting AI chips from the United States.

PETALING JAYA: The domestic technology sector could be in for more uncertainties as Chinese startup DeepSeek launches a free, open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model that experts say rivals OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

This comes amid heightened tensions in the AI trade, which saw a sell-off in the technology sector earlier this month after the Biden administration announced new restrictions on the export of advanced semiconductors and AI technology, citing national security concerns.

Under the new rules, Malaysia was placed in a category allowed to procure only a fixed and limited amount of such advanced technology, potentially constraining the development of its AI capabilities.

Subsequently, the local construction sector was downgraded by at least two research houses, on the basis that many of these contractors had factored in work related to the construction of data centres in Malaysia.

Analysts are largely of the view that US president Donald Trump, who aims to establish the United States as the global leader in AI, is unlikely to alter the directive set by former president Joe Biden regarding the limitations on exporting AI chips from the United States.

However, Tradeview Capital Sdn Bhd portfolio manager Ng Tzyy Loon said DeepSeek’s AI chatbot may throw the effectiveness of the proposed AI export control order into question.

“The US’s strategy to limit the development of AI in other countries by controlling their access to top-tier computing power and technology may not achieve its intended goals, as proven by the creation of DeepSeek,” he told StarBiz.

Last December, DeepSeek launched its DeepSeek-V3 model, which was reportedly developed at a much lower cost of US$5.6mil. In contrast, the training of OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 model had reportedly required an investment of around US$100mil.

On Jan 20, the startup released another AI model, the DeepSeek-R1, which is said to rival OpenAI’s o1 (designed to complement ChatGPT) reasoning capabilities, sparking concerns over US tech dominance and prompting a reevaluation of technology companies’ lofty valuations.

The Bursa Technology Index has slipped by 0.88% since Monday. Yesterday, local technology or data centre-related stocks like YTL Power International Bhd, Inari Amertron Bhd, Nationgate Holdings Bhd and PIE Industrial Bhd fell by as much as 3%, 2%, 5% and 2%, respectively.

Major Wall Street indexes also tanked as the market digested the release of DeepSeek-R1.

The S&P 500 tumbled 1.5% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite sank 3.1%.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is less dependent on tech stocks, gained more than 0.6% with investors flocking to more defensive sectors.

Major tech counters like Nvidia Corp and ASML Holding NV slid as much as 17% and 6%, respectively.

Ng noted one notable aspect of DeepSeek’s AI models is their use of Nvidia’s H800 chips for training, which are not top-of-the-line chips like Nvidia’s H-100 of which the Biden administration’s latest export controls had planned to target.

“This shows that restricting access to top-tier chips may not prevent advancements in AI development, as companies can innovate around these limitations,” he said.

While this may be the case, it is important to note that the H-800 chip itself has been included in the US export restriction list since 2023.

Tradeview’s Ng also pointed out the cost and complexity of monitoring and tracking AI chip usage make enforcement highly challenging for the United States.

“While the US government can track where the AI chips are distributed, enforcing such restrictions is challenging, given the number of countries, such as Singapore, that are eager to advance their AI capabilities.

“Countries may also find ways to smuggle in AI chips like what China does, making it difficult to monitor effectively,” he said.

Ng is of the view that Trump may employ a more pragmatic approach in going about Biden’s proposed AI export control order.

“I think he may repeal the order or at the very least, adjust the rules to make the restrictions less stringent,” he said.

In a report yesterday, Kenanga Research said all eyes are now on Big Tech’s response to the AI capital expenditure ahead, with concerns surrounding the risks of a smaller addressable market for high-end chips.

“On the heels of big spending announcements of a whopping US$500bil under the joint-venture entity Stargate, the pledge to spend multiple billions by Big Tech will likely come under more scrutiny, as we expect them to carefully evaluate strategies given this AI development.

“Demand for state-of-the-art chips will still be intact in our view for firms that are pushing the envelope in developing frontier large language models, or put simply, the most advanced and cutting-edge models to understand and generate text,” the research house said.

As for the data centre play in Malaysia, Ng said it remains intact in the near term looking at the committed data centres here. However, there may be delays or uncertainties around new data centre projects.

“This is because the graphics processing unit (GPUs) already committed are well below the levels planned by major players like Nvidia and Amazon globally.

“For now, the impact should be manageable in the near to medium term, but beyond three years, further expansion could become challenging if the restrictive AI executive order really comes through,” he said.

BMI telecoms and technology industry analyst Niccolo Lombatti said it is important to note that not all Malaysian data centres rely on US-supplied chips.

“The decision of what chips to use is largely a function of its intended use case and therefore its design.

“On the one hand, some Malaysian data centres can utilise a lower number of US-supplied GPUs or chip alternatives from non-US vendors because they are looking to address demand from non-AI related use cases, or less intensive AI use cases, thus insulating them from the AI executive order’s effects,” he explained.

Nonetheless, Lombatti said the main risks arise for data centres targeting high-density AI applications, particularly those in Johor aiming to attract Singapore-based customers seeking rack densities up to or even in excess of 120 kilowatt

“Therefore, Malaysian data centres designed around high-density racks using the latest US-manufactured GPUs face greater risks over the next few years. Owners may need to slow development or scale back to lower-density designs, leading to significant capital expenditure inefficiencies,” he said.

Ng remained optimistic the country will be able to continue to attract data centre investments, underpinned by Malaysia’s cost competitiveness in terms of land, labour and electricity.

“Additionally, Malaysia’s proximity to Singapore is a key factor. The geographical location is crucial for data transfer and connectivity, and many global players already have data centres in Singapore,” he said.

On this note, Kenanga Research said contractors are more insulated in the AI race to roll out data centres given the emergence of DeepSeek could accentuate Malaysia’s position in being able to provide the brick and mortar for the data centre competitively.

As for YTL Power, the research outfit said the negatives are priced in with data centres fully discounted in its share price. At this juncture, firm takers for YTL Power’s AI data centre GPU as a service may still be needed to re-rate the stock.

YTL Power International Bhd, Inari Amertron, Nationgate Holdings and PIE Industrial closed at RM3.11, RM2.52, RM1.79 and RM4.57, respectively, yesterday.

By ELIM POON

Opportunities for affordable AI development

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Chinese across the world, celebrate Spring Festival with traditions, travels and shopping spree, since its inclusion into the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list.

 

Chinese New Year offers window on nation's economic vitality

Tourists pose for a selfie at a flower market in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 27, 2025. China is alive with vibrant celebrations with the Spring Festival just around the corner. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

With traditional fairs and shopping and travel booms over this year's extended holiday, China is about to ring in the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake, the first since its inclusion into the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list.

For Chinese across the world, the Spring Festival is a time for family reunions, festive traditions, holiday shopping and diverse cultural and tourism activities. This year, it falls on Jan. 29 with hundreds of millions of people traveling to reunite with families in the world's largest annual human migration.

Celebrations today highlight both traditional and modern elements, from temple fairs, lantern displays, lion dances and intangible cultural heritage bazaars to village galas, light and drone shows, museum exhibitions, and travels at home and abroad.

This year, festive glee and activities are further boosted by the UNESCO recognition, pro-consumption policies and the extension of the traditional seven-day holiday by an extra day.

FAMILY REUNIONS AND TRADITIONAL FESTIVITIES

For migrant workers like Zhang Changfu, a native of Baise in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China, the Spring Festival offers a rare opportunity for a family reunion.

"I've been working away from home for 20 years, but I return home every Spring Festival," said Zhang, 41, who works as a machinist in the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu, adding that he is looking forward to taking his family to the local temple fair.

The temple fair, a panoply of folk performances, local delicacies and traditional handicrafts, is a familiar sight at this time of year. While such activities contain more traditional elements in the countryside, large cities like Beijing and Shanghai have a tradition of holding large-scale fairs.

For others, like Lin Jia who works in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Spring Festival is the perfect time for a family tour. Lin's parents and grandmother have traveled from Hunan Province to join her for the holiday.

Lin plans to take them sightseeing around the city after a New Year's Eve dinner at a hotpot restaurant. "It's both a reunion and a mini vacation," she said.

This year, many cities are holding more traditional festive activities, motivated by the inscription of the Spring Festival on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December. The southwestern megacity of Chongqing has planned more than 100 intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, bazaars and performances during the holiday.

"We hope visitors can feel the strong festive ambiance and the special charm of our cultural heritage," said Tang Mao, the organizer of a cultural heritage bazaar in Chongqing's bustling Jiefangbei commercial area, where over 40 artisans display traditional crafts like paper-cutting, New Year picture drawing and sugar-figure making.

HOLIDAY SHOPPING

For centuries, shopping has been a crucial part of Spring Festival preparations: from nice food to new clothes and carefully chosen gifts.

Liu Fengmei, a woman in her 70s in Shanghai, traveled over an hour by subway to First Foodhall, a time-honored food store on the iconic Nanjing Road, to stock up on traditional holiday snacks.

A long queue is seen outside the store, which, like many across the country at this time of the year, is filled with festive decorations and a dazzling array of traditional foods.

Following the UNESCO recognition, Chinese consumers also appear to be particularly interested in goods with a cultural festival flair.

Li Gang with the Ministry of Commerce said sales of neo-Chinese-style jewelry and goods featuring intangible cultural heritages have grown by 52.6 percent and 26.6 percent in the month-long online shopping event for the festival initiated by the ministry.

In recent years, the Spring Festival shopping lists have included more imported goods, reflecting Chinese people's rising purchasing power and growing appetite for imported quality goods.

Earlier this month, a cargo ship loaded with 20,000 tonnes of Chilean cherries arrived at the Nansha Port in south China's Guangzhou, perfectly timed to offer a festive treat for millions ahead of the Spring Festival.

"Chilean cherries, Australian lobsters and Russian snow crabs ... the prices of imported products are quite attractive, so I plan to prepare a New Year's Eve dinner that blends both Chinese and foreign flavors," said a customer surnamed Guo at a store of fresh-food chain Freshippo in Beijing.

Driven by government-subsidized trade-in programs, mobile phones, wearable devices, and green and smart home appliances are also highly sought-after items ahead of the festival, according to the ministry.

"Spending on New Year's goods can offer a glimpse into the resilience and vitality of consumption throughout the year," said Hong Tao, director of the Institute of Business Economics at Beijing Technology and Business University, who expects a new wave of holiday consumption growth.

HOLIDAY TRAVEL

In addition to local festivities, many are venturing farther afield to make the most of the eight-day Spring Festival holiday.

Fang Xue, a resident of Shanghai, plans to take her parents on a holiday trip to Shantou, a coastal city in Guangdong Province. "Traveling during the Spring Festival has become quite fashionable," Fang said. "My parents in their 80s are very eager to travel."

The extended holiday has given a boost to the travel industry. While tourist cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu are attracting large numbers of holidaymakers, smaller cities are also getting more travelers who wish to savor celebrations with local flavors, according to Fliggy, a leading online travel agency.

"Expectations for intangible cultural heritage activities are especially high during the first Spring Festival after the UNESCO recognition," said Wang Liyang, operations manager at Fliggy.

Thanks to China's further easing of visa policies, many Chinese cities are also witnessing an influx of international visitors, with many eager to experience the festival traditions.

"The UNESCO heritage status gives Spring Festival worldwide recognition and increases its appeal to international tourists," said Zhou Huijie, an analyst at Trip.com research institute.

Trip.com Group has estimated that inbound bookings would jump by 203 percent during the Spring Festival, with tourists from the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, the United States, Australia, Thailand and Britain topping the list.

Lukas Muller from Germany is traveling in northeast China's Jilin Province for skiing and to experience the Spring Festival.

"My friends and I will experience Chinese New Year up close, including eating dumplings, putting up spring couplets, setting off fireworks, and many other customs I'm not familiar with yet," he said, also praising China's visa-free policy that facilitated his trip.

Spring Festival serves as the most direct cultural window to understand the Chinese people and it is also a traditional festival with the most Chinese cultural characteristics, said Feng Jicai, a renowned Chinese writer who has long championed intangible cultural heritage protection.

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