In the West the shopping calendar is organised around the birthday of Jesus Christ.
In China it is shaped by the birthday of JD.com.
That giant e-commerce firm, established on June 18th 1998,
introduced the "618" shopping festival in honour of its founding.
The festival offers discounts and other enticements to shoppers in the run-up to the big day.
But just as Christmas decorations seem to appear earlier each year,
the 618 festival keeps starting sooner.
This year's promotion began on May 13th, a week earlier than in 2024.
The early start helped boost last month's retail sales,
which grew by 6.4% year on year, faster than expected (see chart).
The festival had stimulated "enthusiasm" among consumers, said China's government,
which has promised to boost consumption "vigorously" this year.
It hopes higher household spending will defeat deflation
and cut the economy's reliance on investment spending (which is often wasteful)
and foreign demand (which is threatened by tariffs).
The month's sales were also lifted by the government's own attempt to reshape the country's shopping schedules.
Since early 2024 it has provided a steadily expanding subsidy to consumers
who trade in old goods for newer, greener and snazzier versions.
A variant on the "cash-for-clunkers" schemes popular after the global financial crisis of 2007-09,
the programme now extends far beyond cars.