As Spring Festival and Tibetan New Year (Losar) are approaching, it is the busiest time for merchants in Lhasa. Red lanterns and Chinese knots can be seen in various stores, creating strong festival atmosphere. People are busy choosing festival decorations such as lanterns, Spring Festival couplets, the Chinese character "fu" (meaning blessing or happiness), Chinese knots and so on.

Apart from traditional decorations, pendants, dolls and furnishing articles with Chinese zodiac signs are put in the most prominent positions in stores to attract customers. A store owner says, "This year, I stocks our shop with some pendants, dolls and furnishing articles with chicken signs. Small pedants can not only be hung at home as decorations, but also be displayed on refrigerators. As for chicken zodiac dolls, they are favored mostly by children."

Droma is a Lhasa citizen and she is choosing festival decorations. She says, "lanterns, Chinese knots, character fu, and Spring Festival couplets are all essential to Spring Festival. Red lanterns can be hung at the door. Spring Festival couplets can be pasted on bouth sides of the gate. Character fu can be sticked on the center of the gate. Chinese knots can be hung in rooms. Small character fu can be pasted on windows. With such decorations, there will be full of festival atmospherse."