China News Service, Beijing, April 8 (Reporter Xie Yiguan) Twist a bean, hold it firmly with tweezers, align it with the holes on the bottom plate and insert it, a few, dozens, hundreds… An hour later, a cartoon character slowly takes shape.
During the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, Ms. Zuo went to a shopping mall in Shunyi, Beijing to experience the "bean-making" craft. For her, spending two to three hours to complete two works was a novel and fun experience.
The current popularity of "Pin Dou" is no accident. Behind it is the continued rise of experiential consumption among young people.
From April 7th to 8th, the National Service Industry Conference was held in Beijing. As the first national conference in the new era focusing on the service industry, the largest industry in the national economy, the conference clearly pointed out that the supply of upgraded services should be expanded around residents' pursuit of high-quality life. Focusing on the diverse consumption needs of residents, we provide refined and personalized services.
This arrangement is in line with the new trend of residents’ consumption shifting from buying goods to paying equal attention to both goods and services.
Liu Fang, a researcher at the Market and Price Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, told China News that with the increase in residents' income levels, consumer demand is changing from survival to development and enjoyment. People are no longer just satisfied with buying goods, but also pursue experiential services.
The picture shows that on March 17, the streets and alleys of Xianpu Village were full of tourists wearing hairpins, and the crowds were like "moving gardens." Photo by China News Service reporter Zhang Bin
Data also confirms this trend.
The per capita service consumption expenditure of Chinese residents will increase from 9,037 yuan in 2020 to 13,602 yuan in 2025, and the proportion of total consumption expenditure will increase from 42.6% to 46.1%. In the first two months of this year, retail sales of services increased by 5.6% year-on-year, significantly faster than the growth rate of retail sales of goods.
Su Jian, a professor at the School of Economics at Peking University, said in an interview with China News Service that judging from recent consumption data, on the one hand, the diminishing marginal effect of policies to promote physical consumption has appeared; on the other hand, various new service consumption formats are emerging one after another, reflecting the huge growth potential of my country's service consumption and ushering in the trend.
This new trend in consumption is taking place across the country.
In the streets and alleys of ancient cities such as Xi'an and Luoyang, there is an endless stream of young people taking pictures in exquisite Hanfu; in intangible cultural heritage handicraft workshops, immersive experiences of traditional skills can be seen everywhere; in script killing and escape room stores, young people form teams to unlock plots and interact as much as they want.
The "China Experience Economy Development Report (2025)" shows that the size of my country's experience economy market has exceeded 18.4 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 22.6%, which is 7.4 percentage points higher than the global average growth rate.
The ticket economy, which focuses on emotional value, has suddenly emerged. In 2025, the box office revenue of large-scale commercial performances with more than 5,000 people across the country will reach 32.448 billion yuan. The multiplier effect of one ticket leveraging a city has been repeatedly verified.
At the same time, under the innovative practice of diversified and in-depth integration of cultural and sports tourism businesses such as "Tourism +" and "Sports +", the transaction volume of tourism services and cultural and sports service platforms in 2025 will increase by 25.1% and 8.5% respectively compared with the previous year.
The picture shows the opening ceremony of the 4th Guizhou Village Super League and the fireworks show at the Village Super League Night. (Drone photo) Photo by China News Service reporter Qu Honglun
The vitality of service consumption is also transmitted to the service industry as a whole. In 2025, the added value of my country's service industry will exceed 80 trillion yuan for the first time. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the scale of the service industry is expected to exceed 100 trillion yuan.
Although my country's service consumption is growing rapidly and has huge potential, Liu Fang believes that there are still shortcomings in supply in some areas, especially the insufficient supply of high-quality services in areas such as "one elder and one child" and domestic services. "Developing service consumption and improving the quantity and quality of supply are key."
Previously, the General Office of the State Council has issued the "Work Plan for Accelerating the Cultivation of New Growth Points in Service Consumption" to support the construction of several new emotional and experiential service consumption scenarios with strong consumption-driving effects.
Recently, nine departments including the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the "2026 Work Plan for Improving Service Consumption and Benefiting the People", which will coordinate efforts from both supply and demand ends to create a number of new consumption scenarios that will drive a wide range of consumption and have high visibility.
The National Service Industry Conference was held at this time, which pointed out the direction for the next development of the service industry.
With the policy intensification taking effect, the trend of service consumption has arrived. (over)
