Fu Xiuqin struggles to find sawdust and cypress twigs in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, so that she can smoke bacon in the runup to Spring Festival.

"Smoked bacon has been part of Spring Festival since I was a child," said the 74-year-old, whose hometown is Guangyuan. "But it is really hard to find sawdust and cypress twigs and a place to smoke bacon."

Many of her young neighbors in a residential part of downtown Chengdu fretted as she smoked bacon because they found the smoke unpleasant. But none tried to stop her, as it is a time-honored habit for people in Sichuan to eat bacon during Spring Festival. The festival, which falls on Feb 19 this year.