A series of cheeky photos of a plus-size model gorging on sweet dumplings while wearing retro clothing is popular on the Chinese internet, as the country celebrates its traditional Lantern Festival, when these snacks are commonly eaten.

Aoluojia's Weibo post [Photo/Weibo]

The photos are self-portraits by a clothing designer specializing in the (somewhat niche!) area of Tang Dynasty-style clothes for larger women.

They have received nearly 10,000 likes on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, and have been reposted by museums in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, home to the ancient capital of the Tang Dynasty.

The woman in the fancy frock goes by the screen name Aoluojia. After creating a similar group of photos for Chinese New Year, she said she was surprised by their popularity.

"I hope these pictures can make people laugh during the festival. The original idea of the woman dressed in Han-style clothes eating sweet dumplings was to combine traditional culture and popular internet jokes," she told Beijing Youth Daily.

"Tang Dynasty lady eating sweet dumplings." [Photo/Weibo]

Aoluojia, a 38-year-old mother, saw her weight rise to over 90 kilograms after giving birth early this year. She had the idea to redesign her clothing line for plus-size women, believing there were few companies serving this group.

Now the dumpling photos have brought Aoluojia's clothes to wide attention, she said she plans to produce more "Tang Dynasty Ladies" series for other Chinese holiday seasons.