Apple presents special edition watch to celebrate Chinese New Year

An artist paints on an iPad Pro by using Apple Pencil on Jan 15, 2015 at a Beijing Apple Store. [Photo/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Two exclusive red strap Apple Watch Sport models, specifically launched for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, hit the shelves on Friday in the nation.

According to Apple Inc, the two new models will come in two finishes: yellow gold aluminum with a red strap, and silver aluminum with a red strap.

Both models, pricing from 2,588 yuan, will be available in 38mm and 42mm sizes and will only be sold in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore until February 22.

An Chinese New Year Apple Watch Sport edition (in the middle) is displayed on Jan 15, 2015 at an Apple Store in Beijing.[Photo/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Busting out the red straps for the New Year symbolizes good fortune and joy in the countries'culture.

The Chinese Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, falls on Feb 8 this year, ending the Year of the Sheep.

The Chinese lunar calendar assigns an animal symbol to each year in a 12-year cycle. According to the zodiac, 2016 is the Year of the Monkey.

"I'm amazed to use my Apple Pencil to draw Monkeys on my iPad Pro, it only takes me about 40 minutes to create a new work, faster than I did on real paper," Chen Jianzhou, a 28 year-old designer, a member of the Chinese artists Council, told China Daily at the Apple Store located at Beijing's China Central Place.

Chen works in the user interface (UI) design area and one of his favorite creations is Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, a main character in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.

He comes with another five young visual artists to demonstrate the usage of Apple's newly-launched products to the visitors of the store.

"I've been working on experimental shooting by using Live Photos function powered by iPhone 6s Plus," said Zhang Yue, one of the photographers from the artist group.

"The Live Photos function is not only the traditional burst mode for photographs, it records live audio," Zhang added. "It is a new type of creation for artists."

Being the second largest market for the Cupertino tech giant, the demands of Chinese consumers are at the forefront of the company's strategy, and Apple has made a series of pushes in localized strategy in 2015.

In September last year, Apple announced that Apple Music, iTunes Movies and iBooks are available to customers in the Chinese mainland.

"Customers in China love the App Store and have made it our largest market in the world for app downloads," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, during the launch of Apple Music in the nation.

Apple and China UnionPay announced a partnership in last December to bring Apple Pay, a mobile payment solution to its Chinese customers as soon as early 2016.

The US electronics maker also sets a target for establishing a total of 40 Apple Stores on the Chinese mainland by 2016.