[Photo by Fan Zhen/China Daily]

But southerners like to eat nian gao, or "New Year Cake" -- a sweet sticky brown cake made of rice flour and sugar. In Chinese, gao is a homonym for "high", and nian is "year". Nian gao is a homonym for "higher each year" and symbolizes improvement in life year by year. Their sweetness symbolizes a rich sweet life. Finally, the round shape signifies family reunion.