1. A teacher shows paper-cutting club students how to create a zodiac pig in Hengchangdianxiang Elementary School in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Jan 10. DING GENHOU / FOR CHINA DAILY
2. A woman in Xinchang village, Hebei province, airs the Chinese knots she has made by hand on Jan 10 as knot producers welcome the busiest time of the year. CHEN LEI / XINHUA
3. Pig-shaped steamed buns celebrating the Chinese New Year have attracted attention for Zhao Xiaoping, a folk artist in Binzhou, Shandong province. FU KUN / FOR CHINA DAILY
GAO ERQIANG / CHINA DAILY
The lighting ceremony of the Chinese New Year Folklife Lantern Festival was held in Yuyuan, a classical Chinese garden in Shanghai, on Jan 21. With goody bags and gold ingots in hand, a 9-meter-high pig embodying the god of wealth in Huabaolou square sent best wishes to visiting residents and tourists.
4. An artist puts finishing touches to zodiac pig-shaped lanterns in Baotu Spring Park in Jinan, Shandong province, on Jan 9. LYU CHUANQUAN / XINHUA 5. Villagers prepare backstage for the performance at the center for cultural activities in Ershilidian village, Hutubi county, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on Jan 17. WANG FEI / XINHUA 6. Children perform a folk dance on horse-shaped lanterns (Xia ruo ma deng), an intangible cultural heritage with a history of more than 1,000 years, for villagers of Xintang, Zhejiang province, on Jan 16. XU YU / XINHUA 7. Folk artists perform the intangible cultural heritage of fiery dragon dance (Huo long gang hua), an ancient stunt to produce eye-catching sparks of molten steel, on Jan 13 in Taierzhuang, Shandong province. DONG NAIDE / FOR CHINA DAILY