CHANGCHUN, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Tiger-themed products including shoes, papercraft and jewelry have found renewed favor with customers in China and beyond as the Year of the Tiger is around the corner.

Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, falls on Feb. 1 this year. Tiger is the third of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals, which also include rat, ox, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

Stitching the soles, embroidering tiger patterns, sticking the whiskers... after a while, a pair of tiger-head shoes was created by 53-year-old Xu Dahang, a craftswoman for Manchu ethnic clothing in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin Province.

"This pair of tiger-head shoes was made for a customer from Italy. Shoes and hats bearing tiger elements have gained popularity at home and abroad ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year," said Xu, adding that many Chinese traditionally believe that the image of a tiger would protect toddlers from evil.

"Orders for tiger-themed Manchu ethnic clothes also soared 20 times since last April compared with the same period of the previous year," said Xu, who runs a garment company.

In Chinese culture, the tiger symbolizes boldness, vigor and strength that can drive away disasters and usher in auspiciousness and peace.

Tiger culture has taken root in Hunchun City, which lies in the center of the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park. Han Shuang, president of the city's Manchu ethnic paper-cutting association, is busy creating vivid tiger papercraft with her colleagues.

"This year, people like to buy paper-cut tiger crafts for window decorations or to display as art. We adopted different techniques to create these tigers in different shapes, combining with Chinese characters and landscapes, to meet various needs of consumers," Han said.

Shopping malls across Chinese cities are filled with tiger-shaped toys and tiger-themed backpacks, jewelry, couplets, biscuits and cakes, among others.

At the duty-free stores in south China's island province of Hainan, tiger elements and red can be seen almost everywhere. Li Chao, a tourist from east China's Zhejiang Province, bought a limited edition eye cream with red packaging featuring a tiger.

"It looks very festive, and conveys a feeling of the Chinese Spring Festival," she said.

Gifts featuring tigers are also a big hit online. On the e-commerce platform Taobao, the Palace Museum sold around 10,000 pieces of tiger-themed cup mats in January.

Since last December, the transaction volume for tiger-themed jewelry had increased 85 times year on year, while the transaction volume for home textiles, gifts and clothes had risen 31 times, 24 times and 14 times, respectively, showed data from the online marketplace JD.com in early January.

On social media video sharing platform TikTok, videos with the hashtag #yearofthetiger have been viewed more than 27 million times.

Many video bloggers put on creative makeup inspired by a tiger face, or showed their protective phone cases or clothes bearing tiger elements. "These will be all the rage," said Li Ping who is engaged in e-commerce business.

"The popularity of tiger-themed commodities can make ancient tiger culture regain its shine. Combining modern elements with traditional festival, people can savor a more authentic and interesting Spring Festival," said Li Qian, a Jilin-based writer and folklore expert. Enditem

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