Overview
- The Lunar New Year begins on 17 February 2026, opening a 15‑day festival that traditionally concludes with the Lantern Festival on 3 March.
- Authorities project roughly 9.5 billion passenger movements for the Chunyun season, with railways carrying over one billion riders in the first nine days.
- State TV’s New Year gala featured humanoid robots from Galaxy General, Unitree Robotics, Songyan Power and Magic Atom, underscoring a drive toward AI-enabled manufacturing and service robots.
- Coverage highlights weak consumer demand, recent provincial downgrades to growth forecasts and official figures showing youth unemployment near one in five, excluding students.
- Cultural currents shape the mood as a viral “sad” plush horse becomes a symbol of youth pressure and feng‑shui master Raymond Lo casts the Fire Horse year as energetic yet prone to hasty decisions and open conflict.