This Thursday will embrace the Major Snow, the 21st solar term of the year, which marks significant drop in the temperature and the snow becomes heavy. In the freezing winter, warming some wine on the stove and taking a sip around the flickering flame brings much enjoyment.

In celebration of winter, the Palace Museum in Beijing has shared a range of photos featuring its collection of wine vessels with netizens on the micro blog Sina Weibo.

Gong was an ancient wine vessel used to hold wine, and normally built in the shape of animals. It was popular from the late Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC) to early Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century--771 BC). Wine pot is a kind of wine container which usually has long neck, large belly and round feet.

Let's take a look at a variety of wine vessels from the Palace Museum's collection.