In different towns and cities, specially prepared delicious food is always on offer at this time of year. As well as being steeped in local cultures, it's a chance for visitors and local residents to really wake their taste buds to 2012. Can you smell the flavors?

It's cold in Zaozhuang city, in East China's Shandong Province, but thousands have come out to eat!

At Taierzhuang Ancient Town, the annual Pan Cake Festival gives visitors a chance to sample the many culinary delights on offer and learn how to make the pancakes themselves.

Qin Ge, visitor to Taierzhuang Pancake Festival, said, "Vegetable pan-cake is a very special local food. When I eat such traditional food on the first day of 2012, I feel so happy. Come here and try it! "

The theme of the celebration is "Special Zaozhuang -- Warm Ancient Town". Visitors also get to enjoy local performers, and the unique atmosphere of ancient town.

Over in Xi'an, in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the streets are packed with New Year snacks.

Most famous is the "Rose Mirror Cake". It may only be 6 centimeters across, but the smell and the taste cannot fail to please. It's an ideal way to end a day touring China's ancient capital.

A Xi'an resident said, "Rose Mirror Cake is about the same size as a small mirror we might carry with us. That's where it gets its name."

It's a fairly simple cake to make. But there's a traditional way to eat it, with different seasonings like rose sauce and sesame.

One enterprising vendor has even taken the concept further, by adding cartoon characters to each cake. It's a marketing ploy that seems to work.

Xitang ancient town of East China's Zhejiang Province also has a wide variety of local delicacies to tempt visitors.

A visitor to Xitang town, said, "We came here to feel the atmosphere."

A visitor said, "We want to taste all the different snacks here."

Stall owners vie for customers, and make the snacks, as hungry shoppers look on.

Some of the recipes are decades, or even centuries old.

"This is the snack we had when we were small children. I want to let my daughter have a try," said a tourist.

Many people have been before, but find the food to be so good that they choose to come back again and again.

Lou Jinwei, visitor to Xitang, town, said, "It's my second time here but my wife has been five times. The view is beautiful and it's a very meaningful place for us."

The couple first met in Xitang ancient town last year. This year, they were married.

Great food and a fantastic setting -- two things that help make so many destinations in China stand out as unforgettable holiday destinations.