Spring Festival starts with Xiao Nian

Seven days before the Chinese New Year, comes Xiao Nian. It marks the beginning of the Spring Festival as households prepare for the New Year Celebration. In north China's Shanxi province, it is the day people offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God and clean their houses.

Legend has it that the Kitchen God goes to every house to oversee the affairs of the household. Then, he returns to Heaven on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, to report to the Jade Emperor the good and evil among Chinese families.

Thus it is the tradition to offer sacrifices of sweets, soybeans and other foods to appease the Kitchen God and dissuade him from making unfavourable reports.

People get up early on the morning of Xiao Nian and begin cleaning their houses thoroughly. In Chinese, "Chen", or dust is homonym for the character which means "obsolete". So "dusting off" the house is also significant for ushering in the new year, by getting rid of everything old.

After cleaning, people will decorate the newly tidied houses with paper cuts and lanterns.