Introduction

People living across China are celebrating the Spring Festival of 2023 in various ways. One small auspicious object may be unnoticed by some festival goers, but it's been an essential part of festive celebrations for many others. Yes, they called Xiangbao, or traditional Chinese sachets, which a handmaid sloped poaches stuffed with herbal medicines and embroidered with colourful patterns. This is Liu Lanfang, a sache maker based in Northwest China's Gansu Province. She says there has been an unusual increase in the number of customers buying her products as they celebrate the Spring Festival. But why would this be? And what does a typicaltraditional Chinese sache look like