On her way to catch a foreign flick in Beijing, Jane Yao bought a cinnamon roll, had ramen, visited a bookshop, and dropped by a supermarket to grab some snacks.

Such an impulse splurge has become all too rare in China, a country where consumption growth is still far below pre-Covid levels and poses a major hurdle for the economy. Equally surprising was Yao’s choice of entertainment — a rescreening of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets during a retrospective showing across China not long ago — which drew a big crowd of mostly millennial viewers on a weekend afternoon.