People across China celebrate the traditional Laba Festival on Monday, which falls on the eighth day of the 12th month on the Chinese calendar, typically with cooking and consuming Laba porridge.
Also known as "eight-treasure congee", Laba porridge is usually made with eight or more ingredients, including mixed grains, beans and nuts, lotus seeds, peanuts, dried fruit, representing good luck.
But in Jiaozanshi Village of Nanjing, the provincial capital of Jiangsu in east China, people not only cook and consume Laba porridge themselves and offer them to visitors on this festival, but also put up tofu banquets and stage a spectacular dragon dance.
As the saying goes, "the Laba Festival is followed by the Chinese New Year". In the village, the celebration of Laba is the prelude to the Spring Festival, which falls on February 17 this year.
An important part of the Laba celebration in the village is making tofu. The villagers believe that "to grind tofu on Laba, and you'll have smooth sailing in the coming year." True to tradition, villagers rolled up their sleeves to hand-grind soybeans, crafting tofu from scratch and frying up golden tofu balls, each dish a fragrant symbol of good fortune for the year ahead.
"Experiencing these local customs in person, you feel more keenly the festive atmosphere," said visitor Liu Dan after trying the traditional soybean grinding.
The village celebration went beyond food. Local artisans displayed their skills in traditional crafts, from spinning tops and intricate knot-tying to the delicate art of lantern-making. Visitors also had the chance to try their hand at paper-cutting for horse-themed lanterns and pick up lucky calligraphy scrolls and Spring Festival couplets to take home.
As dusk fell, the village's most exciting celebrations began: the Dongquan Horse Lantern and Zhang Family Dragon Lantern parades took center stage to the beat of drums and gongs. The Zhang Family Dragon Lantern, with a history of 500 years, made an impressive entrance with a team of nearly 100 performers.
"There are more young people participating in the performance this year. We mean to push the youngsters out to forge them into caretakers of the traditions. With the art and craft carried on generation after generation, it has sustained to this year, carrying our villagers' expectations for a better life," said Huang Pingping, head of Zhang Family Dragon Lantern performance team.
Nanjing village celebrates Laba Festival with vibrant folk activities
Officials and business leaders form China and Finland on Monday signed new agreements and pledged deeper trade ties in Beijing during Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's ongoing visit to China.
The 6th China-Finland Committee for Innovative Business Cooperation Meeting, a long-standing cooperation mechanism aimed at linking the two countries' companies, capital and innovation, was co-hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
The gathering brought together representatives from the government and business sectors spanning the fields of energy, manufacturing, aviation, healthcare and sustainability.
Orpo, who arrived in the Chinese capital on the previous day, said he hopes his visit will "open doors to Finnish companies" and the meeting was primarily about matchmaking -- connecting policy priorities with real business needs and turning cooperation into concrete projects.
"We have a rather small scale, here we can see the scale, whether it's about the patient numbers, manufacturing services, or equity values," said Juha Yrjanheikki, CEO of Aurealis Therapeutics, a cell and gene therapy platform company.
"More and more of the most innovative solutions, whether it's to do with how we work or how our products work, we see them coming more and more from China," said Jussi Herlin, vice chair of board of directors of Kone Corporation, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry.
"China has always been an important market for us -- for the Finnish companies, because it's a huge market. So if you manage to be successful here with your technology, then you can compete all over the world," said Timo Vuori, vice president of the Confederation of Finnish Industries.
In a speech at the meeting, Orpo said his visit also sends a broader signal of commitment to cooperation, even as global trade faces rising uncertainties.
"Finland and China enjoy stable and long-standing relations. Over these years of collaboration, trade relations between our countries have grown steadily. China has become a very important market for Finnish businesses. To truly flourish, we must together preserve the shared rules-based trade system. It provides the predictability and confidence needed for companies to expand their partnership and pursue sustainable growth," said the prime minister.
In his speech, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao outlined how cooperation between the two sides has translated into concrete outcomes.
"Our bilateral trade topped eight billion U.S. dollars in 2025, with two-way investment stock exceeding 23 billion dollars. During today's meeting, companies from both countries engaged in active exchanges and enthusiastic cooperation, signing over 10 cooperation agreements," said Wang.
China and Finland pedge deeper trade ties at Beijing business meeting during Orpo's Visit
