As China's traditional Spring Festival is approaching, more Chinese are doing their Spring Festival shopping online, especially for imported goods, the Beijing Morning Post reported Thursday.

Business transacted on eBay, a famous website, almost doubled compared with the same period last year, the paper said.

"Traditional Spring Festival shopping mainly focuses on food, but most online consumers prefer luxury goods or imported ones like furs, jewelry and cosmetics," the paper said.

Online shopping is especially popular with white-collar workers aged between 30 to 44 since they are busy and have more purchasing power, the paper said.

"Online buying is convenient and more discounts are available," said Zhang Zheng, a foreign-owned insurance company accountant, adding "during holidays shopping centers are always crowded."

Zhang went online to buy cosmetics from Hong Kong and fashionable clothes from the Republic of Korea as new year gifts for his wife.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2006)