Major US port city hosts grand Chinese New Year celebration

Long Beach, a major port city in the United States, last weekend hosted the largest Chinese New Year celebration in Southern California, an event that organizers said reflects the city’s decades-long commitment to bridging cultures and fostering trade partnerships across the Pacific.

The celebration staged music and dance performances featuring diverse Asian traditions and drew nearly 15,000 attendees.

“We have a lot of people coming in. They have a very diverse background. Again, our sister city of Long Beach, our goal is to promote peace, is to bring people together, and that’s what it is all about. Today, we have a very diverse performance,” said Richer San, board chairman of the Sister Cities of Long Beach.

With a population of nearly half a million, Long Beach is the second-busiest port city in the U.S. and home to numerous companies and business organizations with close ties to Asian trade partners, especially China.

“We’re awfully pleased to have such good relationships with our port cities. Many of our sister cities are also port cities, particularly our China’s Qingdao Port, and we just celebrated our 40th anniversary with our Chinese sister city, Qingdao, we happened to go there with the mayor during the Qingdao beer festival. Were we happy or what?” said Susan Redfield, president of the Sister Cities of Long Beach.

A sister city relationship was established in 1985 between Long Beach and Qingdao, a major coastal city in eastern China. These decades-long ties are helping both port cities navigate the challenges of a complex global landscape, work furthered by the Long Beach-Qingdao Association, which was founded the same year.

“I’m awfully grateful that we have such good relationships with our port, with our other port cities, particularly with regard to commercial trade, and at this particular time in our country, it’s been a challenge, and we’re awfully grateful that it looks like things are looking up. We have a lot of resiliency with our businesses here, and we’re growing and expanding them, particularly with Cambodia and other cities, and always with China, of course,” Redfield said.

China’s State Taxation Administration released value-added tax (VAT) invoice data on Tuesday, revealing strong consumer spending during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday.

The nine-day holiday, which ended Monday, saw the average daily sales revenues of consumer-related industries increase by 13.7 percent from last year’s Spring Festival holiday.

Revenue from household appliance sales rose 19 percent from the previous Spring Festival holiday, while motor vehicle charging revenue surged 163.9 percent.

The tourism market experienced robust growth this year, with tourism-related service revenue up 39.6 percent. Catering consumption also saw a significant increase of 31.2 percent.

The Spring Festival, which is also known as Chinese New Year, fell on Feb 17 this year. It is usually a period of vibrant consumption activities as people return home for family reunions or travel to tourist destinations to celebrate the holiday.