Children clean up the snow on red lanterns in street of Zhengzhou city in central China's Henan Province, Dec. 31, 2005. The first snowfall covered the province since winter on Friday after dry cold and windy days.The snow brought a pleasant surprise to local people on the eve of the new year.

Colorful decorations fill up in the Tianyixin market in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 30, 2005. As the Chinese traditional Spring Festival approach, decorations for holidays become quite a hit in local wholesaling markets.

A salesperson shows off a gold figure of dog in the Laofengxiang gold shop of Chaohu city, east China's Anhui Province.

An owner of a shop shows off her newly-imported "Yuanbao", a kind of shoe-shaped gold or silver ingot used as money in feudal China, in the Tianyixin market in Beijing.

Photo taken shows the street is decorated with colorful lanterns in Shanghai.

Photo taken shows the street is decorated with colorful lanterns in Shanghai, Dec. 30, 2005. The atmosphere of the forthcoming Spring Festival can be sensed everywhere in the city.

A actor dressed as Monkey King, a role in the Chinese classical novel "Pilgrimage to the West", performs in a shopping mall in Chongqing Municipality, southwest China.

A little girl pastes the paper-cut on the window of their room in a kindergarten in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province.

As the Chinese year of dog approaches, colorful decorations of dog figure fill up in the streets in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Jan. 1, 2005.

An illuminated sign to celebrate the New Year's coming. The atmosphere of the new year and the forthcoming Spring Festival can be sensed everywhere in China.

(China.org.cn, Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2006)