Xiamen artisans help retain traditional 'taste' of New Year

A group of artisans in Xiamen, Southeast China's Fujian province are using their masterful skills to help keep the old traditions of the Chinese New year celebrations alive in the digital era.

Wu Zaitian and Wu Minzhu

Xianke, a steamed rice cake filled with ingredients such as minced pork intestine, shrimps and peanuts, is an integral snack on the table for the residents in Southern Fujian amid the Spring Festival.

The snack bar located on the Meihu Road in Xiamen exclusively selling the cakes was opened by a native, Wu Zaitian, and has been there for more than 50 years.

Now Wu, 90, and his son Wu Minzhu are running the bar. Sticking to the principle of small profits and quick returns, the Wus refuse to add any additives to prolong the cakes'shelf time and insist in using the traditional handmade methods and freshest ingredients to retain the original taste.

Yi Le

Yi Le is a paper-cutting craftsman born in 1980s in Southern Fujian. He has gone to great lengths, over the years, to explore ways to make the traditional paper-cutting works more aesthetically appealing to the modern people. He is currently running a paper-cutting workshop in Xiamen. In his words, paper-cutting has become an integral part of his life

Yang Wei

Yang Wei, also born in 1980s, is a dough figurine artist based in Xiamen. Yang decided to settle down in the port city in 2016 after traveling to numerous cities to learn and polish his skills. He transforms his rented house into a workshop and opens classes in local schools, at times, to teach children how to make dough figurines, hoping the traditional handicraft skill could be handed down to further generations.