Indispensable dishes that served during China's Spring Festival

File photo taken in February, 1980 shows a family cooking "niandoubao", a kind of steamed bun stuffed with sweetened bean paste, in Hailun County, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. According to traditional cultural elements and customs, some indispensable dishes carrying symbolic meanings are served during the Spring Festival. They are ceremonious processes and sweet memories for those who live and work away from home. Spring Festival, or better known as Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important festival for all Chinese, which has a history of more than 4,000 years. It is an occasion for home returning, New Year goods preparing, celebrating, and foremost, family reunion. (Xinhua/Liu Xiangyang)