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Zha and his wife steam glutinous rice flour. [Photo/cnjxol.com]

A septuagenarian couple in Zhakou village, Haining, Jiaxing has been busy making niangao for local villagers in recent days as the Spring Festival approaches.

Niangao is a glutinous rice cake and a staple of the Chinese New Year. In Chinese, niangao is a homonym of the phrase "higher every year," signifying people's desire to increase their prosperity.

Zha Guomin, 75, and his wife Jin Huifen, 73, have been making niangao for 50 years, and it has become quite popular among locals.

"Zha's niangao tastes delicious and is not easily melted away when immersed in water," said a villager aged over 70 who has been buying niangao from Zha for 30 years.

A person beats steamed glutinous rice flour with a stone hammer. [Photo/cnjxol.com]

During niangao season, Zha's courtyard is always permeated with steam as two big food steamers are always steaming glutinous rice flour from dawn to dusk. This is an important step in the niangao-making process.

The well-steamed flour will then be poured into a stone mortar and beat with a stone hammer by Zha while his wife turns the flour periodically to prevent it from sticking to the mortar until the flour becomes a soft and smooth piece of large cake, which will then be cut into small pieces.

"Lately I've been processing more than 1,000 kilograms of glutinous rice flour per day," said Zha. "Each of local families used to ask me to help them make 50 or even 100 kg of niangao before the Spring Festival."