Swarms of shoppers crowd a snack street with New Year decorations hung up in Wangfujing, downtown Beijing January 18, 2009, a week ahead of the traditional Spring Festival. Xiaonian, or Minor New Year, is the twenty-third day of the last month on the Chinese lunar calendar. On this day, Chinese worship the Kitchen God, who looks after a family's fortunes, for blessings in the next year. [Xinhua]