For instance, elderly parents find it heartwarming to receive a desk calendar from their children in another city printed with grand children's photos, he said.

Xing Tao, a 28-year-old finance professional in Hong Kong, chose to print DIY desk calendars with photos he had taken throughout 2014 as New Year gifts for friends.

The newlywed came up with the idea after making a desk calendar with his wife's photos as a gift for her.

"She loves it so much," the shutterbug recalled.

"It occurred tome such DIY calendars can be great New Year gifts for friends, too. It's not often thought of as a gift. It's affordable. And it matches my hobby."

Xing checks dates with his smartphone. But he finds fun in making calendars that share personal joys with pals.

"It's a year-end capstone of my photography," he said.

"The old saying goes: Good photos stand the test of time. If friends still take interest inmy photos after a year, my shots pass the test."

Higher threshold

Xing is BBS moderator of the documentary photography section of Fengniao.com, one of China's biggest photography Web portals.

The site provides software for its 2 million registered users to download to create DIY photo books and calendars.

It charges Xing 40 yuan per desk calendar.

While Yofus represents traditional printers' personalized-printing e-commerce attempt, Fengniao.com is a website launching personalized printing as a value-added service.

Net Ease, the Chinese Internet company that operates the popular Web portal 163.com, launched Yinxiangpai in 2007 to sell personalized photo-based products, including calendars.

Keyin.cn in April ranked the DIY plat form Yxp.163.com second on its list of printing-industry e-commerce websites and No 1 among personalized-printing specialists.

Keyin.cn is a Chinese printing-industry portal site subordinate to the China Academy of Printing Technology.