As the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, approaches, Shinan, a district in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, held a steamed bun making activity to add some festive spirit to the district. The activity serves as a way not only to celebrate the Spring Festival, but to better develop the intangible cultural heritage items in China.

On Zhongshan road, Liu Jinfang, a local resident, used different shapes of steamed buns, including shoes gold ingots, copper coins and pomegranates, to represent people's yearning for wealth.

Liu Linfang, a Shinan resident, showcases her steamed buns. [Photo/WeChat account: Shinanly]

According to Xin Kehua, a resident living on Zhuhai road, making steamed buns is a tradition in Shandong province and the activity always reminds him of the Spring Festival.

On Jiangsu road, Li Youxuan and her family made different shapes and colors of steamed buns. With great imaginations and lots of patience, their steamed buns, especially rabbit-shaped ones to welcome the Year of Rabbit, were quite lifelike.

Dong Chunyan, a Shinan resident living on Zhanshan road, worked delicately at every step of the steamed bun making process from choosing materials to making flour and dyeing. Her seashell-, hedgehog- and corn-shaped steamed buns express her wishes for a healthy and wealthy Chinese New Year.