Auto shows now held across China are driving up consumption during the five-day May Day Holiday, which started on Thursday.
Auto Shanghai 2025, one of the world’s largest automotive exhibitions, which concluded on Friday after a 10-day run, drew approximately 1.01 million visitors from both home and abroad, including 63,000 overseas participants from 97 countries and regions.
The event was deliberately timed to coincide with the May Day holiday and introduced exclusive consumer vouchers that spanned cultural, tourism, commercial, and sports sectors, generating over one million yuan (about 137,526 U.S. dollars) in total spending.
«Through the ticket purchase app for the Shanghai Auto Show, we involved some other tourism and cultural events so that people could visit the auto show while making trips to other renowned tourist attractions in Shanghai for leisure,» said Gu Chunting, vice chairman of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai.
As the Shanghai Auto Show wrapped up, the Suzhou International Auto Show opened on Thursday, taking over the spotlight. Covering a floor space of over 100,000 square meters, the event in east China’s Jiangsu Province gathered more than 100 global automotive brands and over 1,000 popular vehicle models. Coupled with various favorable policy subsidies, the show has fully unleashed the five-day holiday consumption potential.
«The state’s trade-in subsidy, Suzhou’s new energy vehicle subsidy, and various car purchase incentives, plus exclusive promotional policies offered by major automakers for the five-day auto show, have combined to create an optimal opportunity of the year for consumers to acquire a vehicle,» said Peng Jianming, an event organizer.
Over 80 cities across the country have held nearly 100 auto shows on various scales during the May Day holiday this year.
At these auto shows, intelligent and new energy vehicles (NEVs) have become top-selling products. Data reported that NEVs at many auto shows account for more than 60 percent of the transactions, reflecting the greater popularity of green consumption concept.
Auto shows drive up holiday consumption
China’s box office revenue, including pre-sales and limited previews, during the ongoing May Day holiday had exceeded 400 million yuan (about 55 million U.S. dollars) as of 09:00 Saturday, according to data from online platforms.
Of the top three films driving this box-office surge, two are Chinese productions, drama film The Dumpling Queen and suspense-action film A Gilded Game, while the third spot is claimed by the Japanese animated masterpiece Princess Mononoke, directed by the renowned Hayao Miyazaki.
Directed by Andrew Lau, The Dumpling Queen is inspired by a true story and depicts a vivid portrait of grit and perseverance. Starring Ma Li, Kara Wai and Zhu Yawen, the film follows a single mother who moves to a new city and, through sheer determination and skill, builds a dumpling stall into a household brand.
A Gilded Game, produced by and starring Andy Lau, promises a gripping tale of financial intrigue and market manipulation.
A dozen new films have been released for the five-day May Day holiday starting from Thursday. They range from biographies, suspense, comedy to animation.
May Day holiday box office tops 400 mln yuan
