Performers stage a traditional bamboo-horse running show in Beijing yesterday to celebrate Lichun — the solar term that marks the Beginning of Spring — and to herald the coming Year of the Horse in the lunar calendar. The theatrical dance, in which performers carry horse-shaped props, dates back some 700 years. Falling around Feb. 4 each year, Lichu, the first of China’s 24 solar terms, signals an important seasonal shift in the traditional Chinese lunar calendar: the end of winter’s chill and the arrival of warmer days. Many households mark the occasion with seasonal foods such as spring pancakes and spring rolls, and farmers begin preparing for spring plowing and sowing.China News Service