Good old holidays

In a new picture book, a 66-year-old Beijinger recaptures the capital's Lunar New Year traditions for children, Xing Yi reports.

In the Chinese lunar calendar, the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, which falls on Feb 11 this year, is the "Little Chinese New Year". Traditionally, people will set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the Kitchen God who returns to Heaven to report the activities of every household over the past year to the Jade Emperor.

However, such customs have lessened with time in the city and might seem unfamiliar to children nowadays.