The Hani ethnic group in southwest China's Yunnan Province are celebrating their New Year Festival, the Zhalete Festival, with a grand banquet to wish for a prosperous year ahead.
Spanning from early to mid-November each year, Zhalete Festival is the grandest and solemnest festival for Hani people, one of China's 55 ethnic minorities.
In a village of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, local people have organized a traditional grand banquet to celebrate the festival and pray for bountiful harvest in the coming year.
For the celebration, villagers get up early to prepare an array of local delicacies made from fresh vegetables, meat, and rice. Following tradition, each family shares their dishes with neighbors by setting their tables side by side, at times stretching for hundreds of meters. Every dish of the feast symbolizes their love for life and their hopes for a bright future.
"We bring what we have harvested this year to the tables, wishing for every year to begin as brightly as this one, and hoping for a fruitful harvest in the year ahead," said Li Qiaoyi, a villager.
When the street banquet begins, people gather to enjoy delicious food, chatting with one another and savoring the charm of traditional culture.
In addition to the feast, special activities showcasing distinctive Hani culture during the celebration also attract visitors from different ethnic groups across China.
"I can feel everybody is passionate, and we get together for celebration. Even today's gloomy weather cannot dampen the jubilant mood here a bit. I have a good time here and I will come back here next time!" said Yang Ningshan, a visitor from central China's Hunan Province.