---
title: "Bird's Nest and Fish Maw Transformed into \"Snacks,\" Nutritional Supplements Attract More Young People | New Trends in New Year Goods"
type: "News"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/275972408.md"
description: "As the Spring Festival approaches, traditional Chinese health supplements such as bird's nest and Ejiao are gradually becoming popular choices among young consumers. Research from the Consumer Research Institute of the Beijing News shows that these health products, which were once only used by the elderly, are now widely purchased by young people, especially ready-to-eat and snack-like products that are more favored. Data indicates that the demand for health maintenance among young people is continuously rising, driving the sales growth of health supplements, with related product sales at Hema increasing by 60% year-on-year"
datetime: "2026-02-14T08:42:09.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/275972408.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275972408.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/275972408.md)
---

> Supported Languages: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/275972408.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/275972408.md)


# Bird's Nest and Fish Maw Transformed into "Snacks," Nutritional Supplements Attract More Young People | New Trends in New Year Goods

As the Spring Festival approaches, the peak of purchasing New Year goods has arrived. In addition to the usual snacks and beverages, traditional Chinese health foods such as bird's nest, donkey-hide gelatin, sea cucumber, and honey are becoming the new stars in shopping carts.

Research from the Consumer Research Institute of the Beijing News found that health products like bird's nest and donkey-hide gelatin, once exclusive to the elderly, are now being heavily added to the shopping carts of young people. More Chinese health products are moving away from complicated cooking processes, appearing in ready-to-eat and snack forms such as fresh bird's nest and flower glue porridge. Some even use exquisite gift boxes designed with intangible cultural heritage elements to meet multiple needs such as health, convenience, and cultural identity. The shift from "face consumption" to "value consumption" has led to continuous innovation in the health supplement industry, further upgrading towards quality and standardization.

As the Spring Festival approaches, health supplement gift boxes are piled up in malls and markets. Photo by Wang Siyang, Beijing News.

**From "Exclusive to Elders" to "Young People's Daily Life"**

With the Spring Festival drawing closer, the foot traffic at a Hema store in Chaoyang District, Beijing, has increased significantly compared to usual. At 9 PM, the "Hema Health" section, which specializes in health products, still sees customers stopping to select items. A young couple quietly discusses in front of a pile of health supplement gift boxes, "Should we get a box of bird's nest for the New Year? It's quite popular now," and "Or buy some donkey-hide gelatin, both we and mom can eat, and it helps with energy and blood."

Data from Tmall's New Year Goods Festival shows that "health preservation" has become a hard demand on par with lavish meats, with the consumer group purchasing health foods continuously expanding, including many post-2000s individuals. A person in charge of natural food products at Taobao Tmall stated, "Unlike previous years when health was sent to elders, young people are mainly looking for 'psychological comfort' during the New Year. Products with health attributes are selling very well this year. Besides lavish meats, they feel less 'guilty'." The person in charge of "Hema Health" also pointed out that by 2026, Chinese health products will be particularly favored by Generation Z (typically referring to those born between 1995 and 2009) and the new middle class.

The rising health preservation needs of the young demographic have significantly boosted the sales of health supplement New Year goods. On the eve of the Year of the Horse Spring Festival, sales of Hema's health supplement gift boxes increased by about 60% year-on-year, with bird's nest, ginseng, and donkey-hide gelatin becoming the three most popular categories of Chinese health products. Wumart also reported a 10% year-on-year increase in sales of donkey-hide gelatin and bird's nest products, stating, "From the current data, the sales momentum of health supplement New Year goods is strong and has become one of the fastest-growing categories in the New Year goods market."

Sea cucumber consumption shows regional characteristics. According to Xie Zhuangyuan, northern consumers have a significant preference for traditional health products like sea cucumber during the festival. Therefore, the brand has strategically expanded its New Year product categories this year, specifically adding Dalian sea cucumber, a geographical indication product, to fill the gap in the high-end health seafood sector. At the ongoing 30th Old Beijing New Year Goods Fair, several sea cucumber salespeople from Liaoning mentioned that as a traditional health food with both nutritional value and gifting attributes, dried sea cucumber gift boxes have been popular in the past two weeks, especially in the thousand-yuan price range, "Whether for business gifts or visiting relatives and friends, northern people are quite fond of this." It is worth mentioning that the continuous popularity of nourishing New Year goods has transformed many consumers from curious newcomers into experienced repeat buyers, making their purchasing process more rational. Several heads of nourishing brands and supermarkets told reporters from the Beijing News that this year, consumers' choices for nourishing products no longer rely solely on traditional experiences, but rather place greater emphasis on endorsements from authoritative testing institutions and full traceability. When selecting gift boxes, many consumers tend to repurchase products they have personally experienced for gifting. These rational judgments also push brands and channels to continuously strengthen source control and standardization capabilities, establish traceability systems, enhance product trustworthiness, and create a stable, efficient, and transparent ecosystem for nourishing products.

**Empowerment through Intangible Cultural Heritage Design**

"Now, gifting needs to have both 'face' and 'substance'; good products must also come with good appearances. For instance, this new packaging of the fish maw gift box sells faster than other gift boxes from the same brand, with only three boxes left by the afternoon." The reporter from the Beijing News noted that the gift box mentioned by the staff at Qixian Supermarket is the "Palace Blessing Gift Box," newly launched by Guanzhan in 2026. This gift box is a collaboration between Guanzhan and Suzhou embroidery artist Yao Jianping, incorporating the intangible cultural heritage of Suzhou embroidery into the design, featuring the pattern of "A Galloping Horse Brings Blessings" printed on the front, conveying New Year wishes for the Year of the Horse.

This dual design of "product value + cultural sentiment" has become popular among nourishing brands in recent years, with collaborations often involving brands working with inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to launch artworks (such as embroidery), which are then used on gift boxes. For example, Yanzhiwu's 2026 gift box also chose to collaborate with national-level intangible cultural heritage representative inheritor Sun Ying, themed "Swallows Bring Fortune, Good Luck Gallops," launching a non-intangible cultural heritage Jing embroidery version of the "Yanzhiwu Return Swallow Gift Box."

"When the product forms are roughly the same, gift boxes with intangible cultural heritage or Chinese elements are certainly more appealing to me, and they are more fitting for the Spring Festival," said Ms. Yang, a consumer from Beijing, who purchased the Xiaoxian Stewed "Dragon Horse Health" fresh stewed bird's nest gift box online as a festive gift this year. "I first saw the gift box packaging online and thought it was exquisite. Later, I learned that the related pattern comes from the intangible cultural heritage of mother-of-pearl inlay craftsmanship, which made it feel even more meaningful. I can also share these culturally related stories when gifting to elders."

Nourishing brands are collaborating with intangible cultural heritage artists to design New Year gift boxes. Photo by Wang Siyang, Beijing News; provided by interviewees.

A Tmall health and nourishing traditional Chinese medicine industry representative stated that current consumers, when selecting products, not only focus on the nutritional value or efficacy of the products themselves but also value whether they can provide emotional value, social conversation starters, and a sense of ritual resonance. The era of solely relying on traffic competition has ended; a new generation of nourishing brands that understand scenarios and craftsmanship is rising. The biggest opportunity in the health industry will come from quickly responding to trends and creating new blockbuster products.

**Instant and Snackable Trends**

The answer to blockbuster products is being written in the shopping carts for New Year goods. In the past, the market for nourishing festive gifts was primarily dominated by traditional forms of nourishing products such as bird's nests and dried fish maw. Now, the rankings in this sector are being rewritten At the beginning of February, reporters from the Beijing News visited several supermarkets and health supplement stores in Beijing and found that this year's health supplement goods for the New Year are diverse, including single-item gift boxes such as bird's nest, red reishi, and manuka honey, as well as platter gift boxes made up of lion's mane mushrooms, cordyceps, white fungus, and red dates, and dried goods gift boxes consisting of freeze-dried sea cucumbers, freeze-dried abalone, dried fish maw, and shark fins. Compared to these "old favorites," the proportion of "new faces" such as bird's nest porridge, donkey-hide gelatin powder, and premium stewed sea cucumbers has increased year-on-year.

Both new and old forms of Chinese health supplements are appearing in the New Year goods market. Photo by Wang Siyang, Beijing News

Data from Tmall's New Year goods festival shows that traditional health supplement "variety" eating methods are in high demand. For example, ready-to-eat bird's nest products have increased by 62% year-on-year, bird's nest porridge by 34%, and bird's nest water buffalo milk by 33%.

According to Xu Lina, a spokesperson for Wumart Group, health supplement goods for the New Year are currently transitioning towards ready-to-eat and snackable formats. Traditional health supplements that require complex soaking and cooking are gradually being replaced by ready-to-eat or health drinks; products like ready-to-eat donkey-hide gelatin cakes, poria crisp slices, and ginseng chocolate cater to the convenience and "light health" lifestyle needs of young people.

"In the past, everyone thought that the bigger and more expensive the gift box, the better. That's not the case anymore; you have to consider who the recipient is and what they need," a salesperson from JZT introduced while showing the reporter gift boxes of fresh stewed bird's nest and premium stewed fish maw. "These ready-to-eat products are doing very well this year; there's no need to figure out how to cook or how much to use. The small glass bottles are exquisite and beautiful, especially suitable for gifting to peers, and a small budget can still make a big impression." A staff member from TRT also mentioned that compared to the light dried sea cucumbers that need to be soaked for 2-3 days, freeze-dried sea cucumber gift boxes that only require 8-12 hours of soaking are very popular. Compared to traditional bird's nests, convenient bird's nests that can be brewed with hot water and ready-to-eat bird's nest gift boxes are attracting more attention from young consumers.

Compared to the bird's nests that need to be stewed, more convenient ready-to-eat bird's nests are gaining attention from young people. Photo by Wang Siyang, Beijing News

As the lineup of ready-to-eat health supplements expands, consumers are also no longer satisfied with just single ingredients; composite health supplements made from multiple ingredients have become a new growth point. On the shelves and in the displays of New Year goods, products combining multiple ingredients, such as rose ginseng donkey-hide gelatin cakes, cordyceps bird's nest drinks, and fresh stewed donkey-hide gelatin bird's nest soup, are emerging one after another. There are even gift boxes of bird's nest porridge containing whole ginseng, dried tangerine peel bird's nest porridge, five-red nourishing bird's nest porridge, and fresh coconut quinoa bird's nest porridge, showcasing various composite flavors. A supermarket salesperson mentioned that whether due to the psychology of "getting multiple benefits from one bite" or the improved taste from ingredient combinations, the sales growth and popularity of these composite ingredient gift boxes in this year's New Year goods market are higher than those of single ingredient health supplement gift boxes The person in charge of "He Bu Bu" believes that the increase in ready-to-eat and portable products is due to the fact that Chinese nourishing products have extended from festive gifts to daily nutrition and self-care scenarios, covering various occasions such as office work, fitness, and overtime, entering a new stage of normalization, high frequency, light eating, and contextualization. In the short term, the popularity of nourishing New Year goods will continue before the festival; in the medium to long term, the increase in demand for "light nourishment" will further drive the industry towards standardization, quality improvement, and foodization.

Reporter from Beijing News: Wang Siyang

Editor: Li Yan

Proofreader: Mu Xiangtong

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