China not so bullish about year of the ox

Millions of Chinese welcomed the arrival of the Year of the Ox with fireworks-filled celebrations.

They gave a boisterous farewell to a tumultuous 2008 marked by a massive earthquake, the Olympics and a global economic crisis.

The country's economic worries have cast the new year in a more sober light.



China's finance minister warned that balancing the budget this year would be increasingly difficult.

The Chinese New Year, which marks the start of the Spring Festival, is the country's most important holiday. It is generally celebrated with lavish spending on elaborate meals and exchanges of "hong bao," or red envelopes stuffed with money.

But at the capital's legendary Quanjude Peking Duck Restaurant, marketing manager Yang Jing said the financial downturn is already having an effect on traditional feasting.

The country's economic outlook for 2009 has been dampened by the deepening global financial crisis, with China's 2008 annual growth down to a seven-year low of 9 percent. Thousands of factories have closed in China's export-driven southeast, and estimates of job losses exceed 2 million.

China is not so bullish as the Year of the Ox begins.

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