Ahead of Spring Festival, the Kitchen God knows all

Zao Jun, the Kitchen God, is a fair-faced celestial who spends only a few days in the heavenly court of the Jade Emperor. For most of the year, he presides over the heart and hearth of earthly households, guarding the livestock, servants, and most of all the cooking stove.

He is privy to the darkest secrets, and he sees all.

He listens to the back room gossip, the quarrels among the womenfolk. He witnesses the trickery of malingering servants, the secret stashes of food hidden for a stolen feast, the cutting of corners in the making of a complicated dish, the whispered rumors, the scandalous truths.