Various activities held across China to welcome upcoming Spring Festival

With the Spring Festival just days away, regions across China are alive with festival markets and booming consumer activities, highlighting the diversity of local culture and the holiday spirit.

The Spring Festival, which marks the start of a new year in the Chinese lunar calendar, is the biggest annual holiday in China, and sees people across the country return to their hometowns to celebrate with their families and friends. This year, it falls on Jan 29, ushering in the Year of the Snake.

On Wednesday, a grand lantern fair with over 100 sets of creative lanterns of varying sizes lighted up the Beijing Garden Expo Park in the city's Fengtai District. The event, combined with a temple fair, offers visitors an immersive experience of traditional Chinese culture amidst the vibrant Spring Festival atmosphere.

At the Huizhou ancient town in Shexian County of Huangshan City, east China's Anhui Province, large red lanterns with decorative gold tassels are hung on city walls and throughout the streets and alleys.

Meanwhile, red cultural decorations including Spring Festival couplets, Fu characters and red chili peppers can be seen along the Wujiang River in Zunyi City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, creating an auspicious festive vibe.

Elsewhere in the country, local residents in Zezhou County, north China's Shanxi Province, are busy preparing "sugar melons", a local specialty made with malt that can only be produced in the coldest months, creating a festive atmosphere for the Little New Year, or Xiaonian in Mandarin, which typically falls a week before the Spring Festival. This year, it is celebrated on Wednesday in northern China and Thursday in the south.

People in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province also gathered around the traditional Chinese kang, or heatable adobe sleeping platform, enjoying malt candy, and creating paper-cuttings to gear up for the Chinese New Year.

Meanwhile, an annual festival market, which boasts a nearly 300-year history, was held in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province on Wednesday. An extensive array of festival goods offered at the market attracted visitors from far and wide.

"The festive atmosphere is quite strong. Let's experience the festive vibe together during the Little New Year and welcome the Chinese New Year," said Zheng Bowen, a resident in Ningbo.

Cities across China have also launched a series of activities, offering people the chance to savor the joys of the Spring Festival by experiencing intangible cultural heritages. In Shunde District of south China's Guangdong Province, sweet oranges, symbolizing "good luck" have been harvested in abundance. In several landmark commercial districts of Shanghai, many fairs have showcased a variety of national-level intangible cultural heritages, including the Yingge dance and bench dragon dance performances.

Tianjin Ancient Culture Street, an ancient gathering place for business and trade in northern China's Tianjin is adorned with festivities. Vibrant intangible cultural heritage performances shown there, such as Peking Opera, dragon dances, and lion dances, have also attracted throngs of tourists.

"The sound of gongs and drums truly evokes the festive spirit of the Spring Festival. This year marks the first year since the Spring Festival's inscription on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. We're really proud and super happy," said Yang Hui, a resident in Tianjin.

Various activities held across China to welcome upcoming Spring Festival

A major port in northern Venezuela came under U.S. airstrikes in the early hours of January 3, which caused extensive damage to civilian infrastructure, destroyed critical medical supplies in a warehouse, and severely impacted centuries-old cultural heritage sites, according to local residents.

The La Guaira Port, a vital hub for imports that support daily life in the region, was heavily damaged during the attack.

Large quantities of medical supplies stored at the port were destroyed. A historic cultural building dating back for some 300 years was also badly damaged by the bombardment.

Residents living near the port recalled the terrifying scenes as explosions shook nearby neighborhoods.

Humberto Bolivar, who lives in a community separated from the port by only a main road, said the blast waves shattered his home's windows, while stray shrapnel struck the water tank on his roof. According to reports, three missiles were fired at the port that night.

Bolivar said that beyond material losses, he is most concerned about the psychological impact on his children, who remain too frightened to leave their home days after the attack.

"The United States invaded our country. The children were frightened. This is not good for them, because it leaves some children with psychological trauma. They do not want to go to school or leave the house, because they are afraid that something worse might happen. We truly do not want this to happen to our country," he said.

Apart from civilian facilities, local cultural heritage site was also affected.

The La Guaira state government building, a structure with nearly 300 years of history and once served as the site of Venezuela's first national customs office, was struck by the force of the explosions.

Windows of the building were shattered, and furniture scattered across the floor.

"As people of La Guaira, we feel deep pain. Our cultural heritage has been bombed. We are living in constant anxiety and suffering, and life can no longer be the same as it was before," said a local named Henry Cumares.

The U.S. side has claimed the airstrikes targeted warehouses allegedly used to store narcotics. However, locals refuted such accusation.

"According to what Donald Trump said, they bombed this place using the excuse that the warehouses here were used to store drugs at the port. But based on the video released by our governor, these warehouses that were burned contained medicine for kidney patients and foods. Many people depend on these supplies to survive. I think the bombing is extremely despicable," said a local resident named Alejandro Capriles.

US strike hits Venezuelan port, wrecking medical supplies, heritage building