For those willing to travel, an ideal choice might be a visit to Yongxinping village deep in the mountains of Central China's Hubei Province and inhabited by the Tujia ethnic group, said Zhang Shihui, an ethnology researcher.

Zhang was born in the village but has worked in Beijing for the past four years.

In 2001, he went home for Spring Festival and was interested by things that had previously seemed commonplace to him.

"The variation of the day's three meals, the sacrificial ceremony of King Xiangwang, among other things, form a gala show of strong ethnic flavour at Spring Festival," Zhang said.

Traditionally, Spring Festival begins on the eve of lunar new year and ends with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar.

In those two weeks, lunar new year's eve is especially important and most Chinese people hurry home for a big family gathering.

For the Tujia families in Yongxinping, preparations for lunar new year's eve begin by building a good fire at each home.

Driving away beasts, getting warm and cooking a big meal are the basic functions of the big fire, Zhang explained.

It is said that, during the 1960s, the village was surrounded by deep pine forests that were home to tigers and leopards.

One summer night, a woman in the village was said to have held her baby near the window while she talked with her friends.

Suddenly, a paw with golden hair reached towards her baby through the window and almost snatched the child away.

Although the woman instinctively ducked, her baby's upper lip was still scratched.

When the child grew up, everyone in the village still called him "Tiger-Touched."

Even today, wild animals still speed by in the woods not very far from the village. The fire on lunar new year's eve can bring the villagers warmth and a sense of security, Zhang said.

The locals do not like to cross the dark fields at night to get a light for the fire from neighbours in the same village. Hence each family must keep their own fire going.

Before they fall asleep, they will bury the burning charcoal in the ashes.

Early next morning, with a blow on the charcoal, the fire will start up right away.

Keeping the fire going appears more important than ever on lunar new year's eve.

The locals believe it is a bad omen if a family's fire dies on the first day of the lunar new year and forces the family to borrow a light on this special day, Zhang said.

In the past, the Tujia people's family and social life revolved around each home's central cooking fire.

They put the ashes from burnt grass into a round or square pit, then set up an iron triangular structure. Above this is a wooden stick hanging from the roof.

Tujia housewives put pots and other cooking utensils on the wooden stick to prepare a big meal for lunar new year's eve, Zhang said.

In the fire stove, there must always be a main piece of charcoal to prop up the rest of the firewood.

Usually cut from a lychee tree, the giant branch serves as the backbone of the stove as it lasts longer than other kinds of firewood.

Zhang remembers that when he was a small child, he often accompanied his father to look for the best firewood around the village. When he was a teenager, however, the woods around the village had become sparse.

Father and son had to climb the mountains for miles to find the best lychee branches.

During his visit last year, Zhang found the old fire stove had been replaced by an underground stove burning coal.

Zhang noticed that, buried deep underground, the new stove could effectively heat up the wooden house, which would otherwise become cold and damp during the winter.

Due to the lack of good-quality coal, the locals have found ways to burn the coal slowly and use the coal several times instead of only once.

When cleaning the stove, the villagers will carefully pick out the semi-burnt pieces of coal and use them again.

The stove is also a good warehouse for housewives. At night, they will put the precious eggs, rice cakes and fruit into the stove so that the food will not get too cold and go to waste.

After building up a good fire in the stove, the Tujia people hurry on to the next step for lunar new year's eve - the sacrificial ceremony for King Xiangwang, Zhang said.

As little children set off fireworks, housewives clean and boil a pig's head - the main present for King Xiangwang.

In China, scholars of ethnic culture have widely divided views on the origin of King Xiangwang in Tujia ethnic culture.

Zhang said he believes the legendary king is actually a mystified and deified image of the Tujia hunter.

Local legends say that, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong, who ruled from 1736 to 1795, some rebels planned to rob and slaughter people in Shihuiyao village near Enshi, in what is now Hubei Province.

When the rebels reached King Xiangwang's Cave, they suddenly saw a giant looming high in the sky.

Wearing grass shoes and a straw hat, the giant had big and shiny eyes, like those of a bull.

He blew an ox horn several times and then a thick fog enveloped the whole area.

The rebels were frightened and dispersed. The people of Shihuiyao village were thus saved.

Kept alive in similar legends, King Xiangwang commands a very high status among the Tujia ethnic people.

On lunar new year's eve, Tujia families place a pig's head in a clean wooden basin on a table specially designed for the King Xiangwang sacrificial ceremony.

A man in the family is chosen to preside over the ceremony. He must light firecrackers while circling the table, praying with words such as "King Xiangwang, please bless our family and make the pigs grow well, the harvest ample, everyone healthy, with more money coming in."

After the King Xiangwang ritual, it is the turn of the Tujia family's ancestors to be worshipped.

On a large square dinner table, the family lay out eight, 12 or 16 dishes with four pairs of chopsticks, a wine cup and an empty bowl.

Filling the cup, the master of ceremonies prays in a low voice: "Generations of ancestors, the deceased old and young, please come for the meal."

After waiting for a minute or two, he serves tea to the ancestors before taking away the cups and bowls.

As midnight approaches, the family offer their ancestors paper made to look like money and burn it outside the main hall.

The local Tujia people have a saying that "Even a sparrow celebrates (lunar) new year's eve." For all Tujia people, the grand family gathering on lunar new year's eve always has priority over other things.

The big meal is no doubt the climax, Zhang said.

For the meal three main dishes are the so-called new year's meat, pig's trotters and bean curd.

New year's meat is actually pieces of pork the size of a kitchen knife.

The meat is boiled in a large pot along with turnip, bean curd, cabbage, garlic, vermicelli made from bean starch and other ingredients.

The meat's fragrant steam is believed to be able to drive away the previous year's mishaps and bring the family closer together.

Tujia people put special emphasis on rice for the new year's eve meal.

In the past, mountain people found it hard to get rice and had to use ground corn as a substitute. They used the whiter and larger ears of corn, which looked more like grains of rice.

Today, local people can buy rice more conveniently.

Another interesting thing after the family meal is the wait for the arrival of midnight.

A local legend has it that, a long time ago, a boy in the village saw the southern gate of heaven open and quickly knelt down.

But he was too excited to speak. When the immortals asked him what he wished for, he pointed to his stomach, meaning that he was hungry. But, in the twinkling of an eye, a beard grew from his chin and reached his stomach. The immortals had misunderstood him.

Every year, the children of the village still try to stay awake on new year's eve in the hope of having their wishes fulfilled, Zhang said.

Although modernization has left its mark on the small remote village, the people here still retain ancient virtues as they conduct the ceremonies for new year's eve, Zhang said.

( China Daily February 9, 2002)