Chinese people are rushing to buy calendars from 1996, which are identical to one for 2024 because both are leap years beginning on a Monday – a coincidence that has triggered nostalgia for the 1990s.
Prices for the vintage calendars range from five yuan to more than 1,000 yuan (US$140) on Xianyu, China’s leading second-hand trading app. A single date page from a 28-year-old calendar can sell for 60 yuan.
Over the past week, searches for 1996 calendars on Xianyu rose 600 per cent and transactions were at an all-time high, according to Economic View, a media outlet owned by state-affiliated news agency China News Service.
“Since about New Year’s Day this year, the daily trading volume and inventory of 1996 vintage calendars have been trending higher, with the volume reaching a peak on January 9 when more than 400 people searched for the keyword ‘1996 calendar’ at the same time,” a Xianyu staff member told Economic View.
The retro calendars have become a hot item further afield, selling for as much as US$200 on eBay.
Some of the 1996 calendars are decorated with traditional Chinese motifs such as auspicious symbols and celestial beings. Others feature overseas pop culture idols, including Hong Kong celebrities and American and Japanese cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, Ultraman and Cardcaptor – remnants of an era when Beijing largely welcomed outside influence in the economy, culture and fashion.
Other vintage calendars for sale feature modern Chinese elements, such as images of Mao Zedong, pages from state-owned newspapers and pictures of the Beijing Guoan Football Club.
While the Gregorian calendars for 1996 and 2024 are a perfect match, the traditional Chinese calendar dates in 2024 are different from those in 1996.
A wave of 1990s nostalgia has swept Chinese social media, much of it driven by the Chinese television series Blossoms Shanghai, directed by top Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai.
The drama features Shanghai in the 1990s – a time when money was pouring into the Chinese metropolis. The series portrays the lives of several people living in the economic hub as the country began to embrace capital and open up to the West.
Thousands of social media users have shared personal photos showing major Chinese cities in the 1990s, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing.
“I remember that Shanghai was already very prosperous in the 1990s, with the neon lights of Nanjing Road, the night city of the new Shanghai Railway Station, the seafood restaurants on Huanghe Road and the fireworks on New Year’s Eve every year,” a Xiaohongshu user wrote.
“It was a time full of neon lights. People dressed in new styles that showed their own personalities. It was a busy, prosperous, booming time,” said another.
However, some commenters from elsewhere in China noted that their 1990s experience was completely different as the local economies of their hometowns lagged behind those of the top Chinese megacities.
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