BEIJING, CHINA - CHINA gave the Lunar New Year a raucous welcome on Monday with parties, feasts and thousands of tonnes of firecrackers, but the mood was far from bullish as the nation ushered in the Year of the Ox.

The boom of explosions echoed across the capital Beijing throughout the night and as day broke, millions of revellers thronged the streets to celebrate the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar.

But for many, the joy was tempered by worry over what lies ahead.

She is one of an estimated 120 million people who have left their homes in the countryside to look for work in the cities - and who have been hurt as global economic woes have hit China's formerly red-hot economy.

According to government estimates, six million migrants have already lost their jobs due to the crisis, and observers have warned more could meet the same fate.

Graduates from China's hundreds of universities are another group likely to be hurt due to the slowdown, with the World Bank forecasting 7.5 per cent growth in the Year of the Ox, the lowest since 1990.

'I'm a student, so at the moment the financial crisis doesn't affect me too much,' said Wu Tian, a 22-year-old economics major. 'But I guess it's something I'll have to start worrying about pretty soon.'

Chinese traditionally celebrate the Lunar New Year by handing out money in red envelopes, but this year the envelopes were thinner than normal, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

How this will impact overall holiday consumption in China remains to be seen, but some retailers were wary.

He Haipeng, a 30-year-old trader from Shanxi in the north of the country, travels to Beijing every year to sell his compact discs and DVDs at outdoor fairs. This time around, he said, he sensed a new unwillingness to spend.

'It's still early in the festival, but even now it's safe to say sales aren't as good as last year. But in my business, you just have to insist on being optimistic,' he said.

Chinese state media also insisted on optimism, saying consumers were 'letting their hair down.' Xinhua used the example of Wei Wanqian, a Shandong farmer who celebrated the festival by buying a new tractor.

Many Beijing residents on Monday also voiced confidence that they would escape the worst of the crisis.

'Sure it'll be a good year,' said Ji Xuejun, a 51-year-old worker in the pharmaceutical industry, on his way to visit his mother-in-law.

'China hasn't been impacted too much so far, and the government will be sure to handle any problems that might arise.'