Banishing winter chill with Major Snow fun

As winter closes in and the days get shorter, many people start to look after new ways to bring a little warmth and fun back into their lives.

One approach is getting involved in traditional activities in celebration of Major Snow, one of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar, that add warm, joyful and colorful festival touches to the frosty season.

According to the lunar calendar, a year is divided into 24 solar terms. Major Snow is the 21st. This year, it began on Dec 7 and will end on Dec 21. During this period, it might snow in northern China. Celebrations of Major Snow are held nationwide with families gathering for special meals, reading and writing poetry as well as singing.

On Dec 7, Chinese singer Gong Linna finished her final concert tour of the year at the Hainan Center for the Performing Arts in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan province.

Inspired by the solar terms, Gong and her husband, German composer Robert Zollitsch, selected 24 traditional Chinese poems and turned them into songs.

With the theme "Following Time", the tour was part of the couple's effort to reinterpret ancient Chinese culture for younger generations in China and the rest of the world.

During the concert, Gong cooperated with local primary school students to perform her works. She also taught audiences her unique singing techniques and explained the feelings she wanted to convey in the songs.

"As a singer, I hope I can do more to be an inheritor of Chinese culture through my arts," Gong said.

As a natural guidance in people's lives, the 24 solar terms reflect Chinese wisdom and were recognized as a world intangible cultural heritage item in 2016.

The Hualuxe Haikou Seaview hotel in Hainan is also offering experiences based on the lunar calender of Chinese culture.

As a Chinese brand of InterContinental Hotels Group, the property uses Chinese elements in its decoration, hospitality etiquette and cuisine.

At Luxe Tea, a teahouse in the hotel that offers a peaceful and private environment, guests can enjoy a private meeting over Chinese tea and feel the seasons on the tips of their tongues, while taking part in professional tea ceremony performances.

The collection of tea served varies according to the season. Thus it is named "24 solar terms tea" by the hotel.

The hotel also has a reputation for delicious Chinese food. One of its highlights is the Mianjia noodle bar, which offers a variety of handmade noodles, congee and soup. Guests can enjoy the dishes and Chinese snacks until 2 am.

Praised as a signature dish of Hualuxe hotels around the country, its beef noodles are always in high demand among guests.

The noodle's soup is boiled with chicken and pork bones for four hours and seasoned with more than 10 types of seasonings, leaving a strong sweet and spicy taste.

Catering to Chinese hunger for midnight snacks, Mianjia welcomes guests with steaming bowls of hot noodles and gives those on business trips a taste of home, said Wang Lin, chief marketing officer of Greater China at IHG.

"It is the hospitality that Hualuxe hotels have insisted on and promoted," Wang said.

Created by IHG in 2012, the Hualuxe hotel brand has expanded its footprint to nine cities around the country.

Liu Zhenshan, general manger of the Hualuxe Haikou Seaview, said he has more than 30 years of hotel experience from being a chef to an executive at IHG.

"Hualuxe is a unique brand focused on Chinese customers and we still have room to explore with more experiences featuring Chinese elements," Liu said.