Over the past week, Wuxi residents have been filled with the warm spirit of Spring Festival and swept along in a wave of vibrant New Year joy.

Visitors watch a lion dance performance. Many scenic spots in Wuxi host folk performances over the holidays and attract scores of visitors. [Photo/wxrb.com]

The city put on a diverse range of entertainments for Wuxi residents. A New Year's fair was held in downtown Chong'an Temple that displayed a series of wonderful painting and ceramic works created by local artists. On the other side of the city, visitors flocked to Nianhua Bay, a modern Buddhist resort, to welcome in the New Year in a more spiritual fashion. Other local festivities included the writing of spring couplets, the sale of delicious local treats, and an intangible cultural heritage show.

The city's retail sector has been equally rosy cheeked this January and February with commercial shopping and entertainment centers experiencing a holiday boom. In the past six months, 37 major retail business corporations in the city have yielded a total sales revenue of more than 2 billion yuan ($300 million), a 6 percent increase from the same period last year.

The restaurant industry unsurprisingly pulled out all the stops for the holidays with many establishments fully booked months in advance of New Year's Eve dinner, considered by most families to be the most important meal of the year.

More generally, foodies in Wuxi were definitely among the most satisfied during the Spring Festival. Statistics provided by Wuxi commerce bureau show that the transaction volume of fruits exceeds 7,600 tons over the week-long holiday. The number for vegetables and snack foods rested around 2,390 and 6,280 tons. Intriguingly, pork remains the favored food of Wuxi residents, followed by seafood, beef, and lamb.

Residents pick out gold ornaments in a jewelry store on Feb 2. Most commerce complexes in Wuxi were fully packed with visitors during the Spring Festival holiday. [Photo/wxrb.com]

Furthermore, the jewelry and clothing industries saw a welcome sales increase on account of the Chinese tradition of people wearing a new set of clothes for the New Year. Gifts to friends and the increase of weddings scheduled over the week-long break also contributed to the spike.

Yet not everyone hung around in Jiangsu for the festivities and a growing number of Wuxi residents chose to spend their holidays in the warmer climes of Hainan and Yunnan province. Others chose to venture even further, with the United States of America and Japan particularly popular destinations for Wuxi residents.

Visitors capture the gorgeous blooming plum blossoms in Wuxi's Plum Garden during the Spring Festival holiday. [Photo/wxrb.com]

If the first of the months of 2017 are anything to go by, the Year of the Rooster promises to be an abundant and prosperous one.