Promotion activities marking farmers' harvest festival kick off in Beijing

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- A series of promotion activities marking Chinese farmers' harvest festival and boosting the consumption of quality farm produce kicked off on Tuesday in Beijing.

Having been held four times since 2018, the promotional event has to date prompted agricultural product sales totaling more than 80 billion yuan (11.6 billion U.S. dollars), according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.　

Activities will this year last for three months, with about 500,000 business entities expected to attend.

Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo, livestreaming platforms, and supermarket chains will take advantage of promotions such as discounts and exemptions of certain fees to spur market consumption vitality and extend the joys of the harvest season to China's urban residents, according to the ministry.

Initiated in 2018, the Chinese farmers' harvest festival coincides with the autumnal equinox each year, which is one of the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar calendar and usually falls between Sept. 22 and 24 during the country's agricultural harvest season.