by Xinhua writers Zhang Yizhi, Hu Guanghe and Yao Yuan

FUZHOU, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Tang Jie just wrapped up her longest Spring Festival holiday. For 17 days, she confined herself in her cottage in east China's Fujian Province, heeding the government call to cut outdoor activities during the epidemic outbreak.

The prolonged respite from work proved to be a chance for Tang, a trade company clerk, to reconnect with her family traditions. With travel plans and parties all scrapped, she spent most of the time learning to cook festive foods at home and helping village officials promote the awareness of wearing facial masks.

Like Tang, many Chinese have been trapped at home for half a month due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, as people are urged to keep off the streets and businesses remain shuttered in many cities.

To contain the outbreak, the State Council, or China's cabinet, extended this year's Lunar New Year public holiday an extra three days to Feb. 2, while factories in many Chinese provinces set the date of production resumption on Feb. 10. So far. at least eight provincial-level regions have postponed the opening of the spring semester till March.

LIGHTEN THE GLOOM

Many Chinese tried to beguile a prolonged holiday at home with the internet and smartphones. As a result, China's social media crackled with funny videos, anti-virus tips and troubleshooting of the country's efforts to contain the epidemic, from the distribution of donated medical supplies and treatment of the infected.

On China's video-sharing app Douyin, also known as Tik Tok, clips themed "Let's go travel" went viral, with many wandering around every corner of the house in pajamas and taking photos like tourists.

In one video, a father took his children on a "one-day tour" to the so-called Bedside Hill, Shower Nozzle Waterfall, Bathtub Hot Spring, and Parlor Food Court.

Pets inevitably fell "victims" to their bored owners. In another viral video, a Ph.D. student surnamed Li was filmed giving math lectures to his only audience -- a reluctant-looking cat.

Many others turned their attention to the anti-virus fight in Wuhan, the center of the coronavirus outbreak. During the construction of two temporary hospitals, part of the efforts to cope with the surge in local patients, tens of millions of self-proclaimed "online taskmasters" and "cloud supervisors" swarmed into the live streaming page to oversee the work and cheer workers on.

Some sought new meaning and purpose in life, giving a boost to reading and fitness apps.

Over 40 digital reading companies made their resources free of charge throughout February. The Ministry of Education also arranged 22 platforms to offer over 24,000 free online courses.

Shi Dai, a 24-year-old girl in the city of Xiangtan, central China's Hunan Province, has been working out for 42 days in a row watching tutorial videos on a fitness app.

"I work out every day not only to keep fit but more importantly, to boost my immunity against the virus," Shi said.

AWAKEN THE BUSINESS

While the online entertainment industry enjoyed a dramatic boom as the raging epidemic kept Chinese at home, many other brick-and-mortar businesses are yearning for a breath of air due to a sharp loss of customers during the Spring Festival holiday, an otherwise peak time for consumer spending.

The film industry was the first to bear the brunt, as the planned release of several Spring Festival blockbusters was suspended indefinitely in an attempt to discourage mass gatherings that experts said would imperil epidemic control efforts.

Theaters grossed 5.9 billion yuan during last year's Spring Festival holiday, the peak movie-going period in China. This year, the box office is negligible.

The catering industry saw many restaurants postpone their openings or turn to a surge in take-out orders to offset the loss of clients. Meanwhile, food delivery companies were caught short-handed when struggling to meet the red-hot demands of people trapped at home.

Freshhema, a fresh food delivery service provider backed by tech juggernaut Alibaba, came up with the idea of "employee sharing" by offering short-term jobs to workers of other restaurants that are on the verge of missing payrolls. The company declared on Feb. 3 that the first 500 workers are already on their new jobs.

Like couriers, medical material manufacturers across China are racing against the clock to make masks, protective suits, goggles, and other medical supplies to ease the shortage.

In the workshop of SPRO Medical Products (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., over 60 workers beavered away on the assembly lines of facial masks, trotting around to tend several machines due to staff shortage.

In Shanghai, 20 volunteers drove tens of kilometers every night to help with the production at a suburban mask factory, producing 300,000 masks every night.

The State Council on Saturday issued a circular Saturday urging efforts to ensure the orderly resumption of production as companies and factories across China prepared to reopen on Monday.

Tang returned to the city of Xiamen on Monday as work resumes at her company, but following the company's anti-virus precautions, she has decided to work from home on her laptop.

Tang felt motivated after seeing many of her peers risking their health at the front line of the country's epidemic fight. "I wish to make my own contributions to help the country tide over the difficulties," she said.