Turning back to China, flowery flour buns, also called “mianhua” in Chinese, are a kind of flower-shaped steamed bun that is very common in North China. Every year around the Qingming Festival when people honor their ancestors, each household in Zizhou County of Shaanxi Province would make Mianhua in different shapes as a tradition. Sometimes a competition is held for the best artist.

Vivid and magnified in shape, thunder-and-lightening in color, rich in local flavor, and delicate and exquisite in taste. This is not only food, but also art.

Flowery flour buns, also called “mianhua” in Chinese, are a kind of flower-shaped steamed bun that is very common in North China.

"I made a tiger."

"The basket of flowers signifies auspice."

Making flowery flour buns is a festival tradition in North China. Every festival, holiday, birthday party, or weddings, women use knives, scissors, and combs to make animals, apparatus and hands, which have meanings including luck, prosperity, and harvest. Flowery flour buns are normally sweet in taste and served at dinners between the dishes. The Mianhua making skills in Zizhou County were named as a provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013.

Vivid and magnified in shape, thunder-and-lightening in color, rich in local flavor, and delicate and exquisite in taste.

"When I was young, Mianhua was considered as a main food staple. I think the tradition is very good, but people don't seem to remember it much. The activity helps us pass down the traditional culture," said Liu Xuefeng, photographer.

The method to make mianhua was handed down generation to generation in Shanxi, Shandong and Shaanxi provinces, and it used to be a basic skill that all women possessed.