China's Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, has witnessed an increasing influx of foreign tourists, who have come to experience Chinese culture taking the advantage of the country's visa-free policies.

The Spring Festival, which fell on Wednesday this year, is a time for family reunions, marking old traditions and looking forward to new beginnings in China.
The southern Chinese city Shenzhen records more than 2.1 million entries and exits in the first four days of the Spring Festival holiday that started on Tuesday, up 9.4 percent from last year.
In the four days, the city registered nearly 43,000 entries and exits made by international travelers, a year-on-year increase of 37 percent, partly as China has extended visa-free transit stays to 240 hours and added more entry points.
"Last year I traveled to China for the first time with my girlfriend, and this year I come to China again. I have been to many cities -- Shanghai, Wuhan, Chongqing and Suzhou. Now I am in Shenzhen," said Benjamin Muntz, a French tourist.
The Hekou Port on the China-Vietnam border in Hekou County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, has also recorded a surge in arrivals of international travelers, with Vietnamese tourists making up the majority.
"We have an eight-day Spring Festival holiday in Vietnam. Our group this year has 40 people. We traveled to Hekou, Kunming, Lijiang, and Dali during the six-day-and-five-night trip," said Nguyen Quang Vi, a Vietnamese tour guide.
In 2024, China introduced a series of new visa-free entry and transit policies, providing foreign nationals with greater convenience to visit the country.
The latest moves include an extended visa-free entry policy introduced in last November to allow ordinary passport holders from 38 countries to visit China for a maximum of 30 days without applying for a visa.
In December 2024, China announced a relaxation of the visa-free transit policy, extending the permitted stay for eligible foreign travelers to 240 hours from the previous periods of 72 hours or 144 hours.