Residents and tourists in Taiyuan City, north China's Shanxi Province, have shown great passion in purchasing aged vinegar, one of the local specialties, following the custom of pickling garlic with vinegar on Laba Festival.
The Laba Festival, observed on the eighth day of the 12th month in the lunar Chinese calendar, serves as a prelude to the Chinese Lunar New Year. This year, the festival falls on Monday, marking the start of the month-long festivities leading up to the Spring Festival. At a vinegar shop in Yingze District, Taiyuan, people line up early in the morning to buy vinegar, despite the cold weather. Many people came with their own buckets, jugs, and other containers. In addition to local residents, many tourists from across the country also joined the queue.
"We love this vinegar, so we come to buy some every year," said a local resident.
Inside the shop, clerks used tubes to pour steaming hot vinegar into containers, filling the shop with a rich aroma. Hu Xiaorong, manager of the shop, said that in addition to brisk offline sales, online sales are also steadily increasing.
"More people are queuing than in previous years, and the daily sales of (aged vinegar) are more than 10 tons, showing an upward trend. Among them, online sales increased by more than 10 percent compared with the same period last year," Hu said.
People queuing for vinegar in Shanxi in preparation for Laba Festival
A youth march themed "Here with Fidel" was held in Havana, Cuba, on Wednesday to call for an end to the U.S. blockade.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, and other party and state leaders participated in the event.
At 08:00, members of Cuba's Union of Young Communists and the Jose Marti Pioneers Organization, along with people from various sectors gathered at the iconic Malecón waterfront promenade in the capital. The participants first delivered speeches and staged artistic performances to express their determination to inherit history, oppose the blockade, and defend the revolutionary cause. Following this, the parade, featuring cyclists and motorcyclists, set off from the José Martí Sports Stadium.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro's birth and April 4 is the anniversary of the founding of the Union of Young Communists in 1962.
One participant said that Cuba does not deserve the unjust treatment it has endured for decades.
"Cuba is a country of peace, a country of love, and it does not deserve this unjust blockade that we are currently facing. The youth at the centenary of Fidel Castro are stepping up to defend and support the revolution. We will not stop because Cuba is a country that resists and lives,” said a participant.
Another participant spoke of the difficult times facing the nation and the essential role of young people.
"We are living through very complex times in our country. Amid all this, young people must play a fundamental role. Here we are; we arrived by bicycle, and some have come on foot. Hopefully, this message reaches the world. I hope that young people from different nations can connect with each other, coming together more and more to strive for a better planet," he said.
Cuban youth hold march to protest U.S. blockade
