Because of the slowdown in the Chinese economy, residents of China are being more austere for their celebration of the forthcoming 2015 Lunar New Year on February 19.

Like Us on Facebook

Sellers of fireworks report a decline in sales, while Chinese are buying less pork in the lead-up to the New Year even if prices of the commodity has gone down instead of up as it traditionally did the past years, reports Economic Times.

It is not just sales of New Year-related items that has declined. Growth of the national economy has also slowed down to 7.4 percent - a 24-year-low - while the property market continues to cool off and demand for made-in-China products both domestically and globally has gone down.

Ding Shen, the owner of the Beautiful Scenery Fireworks, reported a 40 percent drop in domestic sales. He said that while fireworks is considered an essentially part of the Chinese New Year celebration, it is an expense that people can cut, and which they do now because of the economic slowdown.

Pork prices also dipped to CNY24.8 (US$4) in January from CNY24.9 in December.

Rabobank senior analyst Pan Chenjun notes the drop in sales of dried pork meat which is a traditional corporate gift for the most important national holiday in the country.

While bookings for New Year's Eve dinner are up, Xiao Nan Guo Restaurants Media Manager Zhu Xiaochao said diners are selecting menu items with lower prices.

Meanwhile, the Chinese New Year tradition of giving cash in red envelopes called "hongbao" continues, but with a spin. Instead of using paper envelope with bills inside, a growing number of Chinese are using its electronic version introduced by Tencent in January.

The service is an add-on of WeChat, a popular messaging service. It allows users to send and receive digital envelopes using Tencent's payment service. In the first 24 hours of its launch, CNY18 million (US$2.9 million) worth of transfers were made, reports CNBC.

TagsLunar New Year, fireworks, austerity