In a typical chinese country house where live the elder parents, the son and wife and their newly born grandson.

The living quarters are built around the heating system: the smoke from the stove in the kitchen is sucked through and heats up a khang—a large bed-like surface—in the adjacent room to then be evacuated through the chimney outside. Because of its large size and constant warmth the khang hosts many daily activities during the winter months: from meals to naps, to play area to cozy sleeping at night. With only a few burning pieces of charcoal, the surface will heat up quickly and stay very warm all night long.

The man (a friend of the family's) was stripping the seeds from the dried twigs. They will then be gathered in a bouquet of bristles to make brooms he can then sell at the local market.