WeChat assists China's soaring consumption

China saw soaring online and offline consumption orders through WeChat - Tencent Holdings' social networking and payment tool - during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, as the country's consumption continued to bounce back.

Data from WeChat showed that the total volume of offline transactions increased 23 percent year-on-year on the platform during the break, with retailing and catering industries leading the growth.

Online orders related to hotel and traveling business as well as catering business grew 76 percent and 40 percent, respectively, compared with last year, while orders for malls, department stores, supermarkets and convenience stores increased by 32 percent.

As red envelopes are a popular way for Chinese citizens to send New Year greetings, more than 4 billion red envelopes were sent online through WeChat during this year's Spring Festival.