During what is traditionally the noisiest and most festive time of the year—the Lunar New Year holidays—many streets across China were strikingly subdued, residents say.
From rural villages to Beijing’s busy shopping district, people across multiple regions in China told The Epoch Times that this year’s holidays were “unusually quiet.” They described that foot traffic was sparse, markets were empty, and firecrackers—once synonymous with the holiday—were largely absent. For some, the stillness was unsettling.
The interviewees used pseudonyms due to fears of reprisal.
“It feels like the New Year flavor has disappeared,” Qi Jian, a business owner in Hebei province, told The Epoch Times. Standing on his village’s main road during the holiday, he said it felt like “entering an uninhabited village.”…
In China, a Quieter Lunar New Year Reflects Economic Strain and Unease
