CNN —In photographer Zhang Xiao’s images of the Shehuo festival, an ancient celebration still observed in parts of northern China during the Lunar New Year, rural life comes alive with something altogether more fantastical. (Lunar New Year celebrations usually last more than two weeks, with Shehuo festival taking place on the season’s 15th and final day.) “In some villages, virtually the entire population has been mobilized to produce and sell Shehuo props,” the photographer writes in his book. Shehuo performers reenact a battle between China's Eighth Route Army and Japanese forces from the Second Sino-Japanese War. “People are not focused on how to improve product quality and craftsmanship,” said the photographer, who is currently working on a documentary about life in rural China.

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Persons: Zhang Xiao’s, ” Zhang, “, …, ”, Zhang Xiao, —, Zhang, Zhang Xiao “, — Zhang, reenact Organizations: CNN, roosters, dreamworld, UNESCO, Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Eighth Route Army, Aperture, Peabody Museum Press, Peabody Museum of Archaeology, Ethnology Locations: China, Huanghuayu, Shaanxi, Henan, Huozhuang, Henan province, China’s Shandong, Chengdu, Cambridge , Massachusetts