China's retail sales increased by 11.2 percent during the recent Spring Festival holiday, compared with the same holiday period last year, with movie tickets leading to a steep increase in box office sales, according to a statement by the Ministry of Commerce on Saturday.

Restaurants and retail shops recorded booming sales totaling nearly 754 million yuan ($115 billion) during the long holiday, which began on Feb. 7. This year's increase was the same as the 11 percent hike reported during the 2015 holiday period.

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Conventional items including food, alcohol, clothes and tobacco saw hefty sales, while products like jewelry and gadgets also recorded steep growth. In Hebei province, jewelry shops' sales were up by 22 percent, with monkey-themed accessories on demand. 

Restaurants also had a long week catering to family dinners. In the municipality of Chongqing, the sales of 27 restaurants surged by nearly 17 percent (almost 8.4 million yuan), thanks to cooperation with online platforms like Meituan and Baidu Noumi. 

For the first time, services produced over half of the gross domestic product of the country last year at 50.5 percent. Also, as the country continues to shift away from manufacturing and investment into services and consumption, families with higher household incomes can now grasp middle-class life. This is significant as it would support the services industry to create more employment per yuan of output compared with that of factories.

The statement further revealed that compared with last year, box office sales in cinemas in the first three days of the holiday accounted for 80 percent, that is, almost 1.7 billion yuan. In fact, ticket sales on the first three days almost totaled last year's week-long holiday sales.

TagsSpring festival, china, retail sales, economic growth