Regions Display Shining Examples of Progress

16 | Friday, February 26, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY LIFE Lighting up a special time

Lantern Festival events bring friends and families together across the country in a unique celebration of culture and tradition marked by fascinating and imaginative illuminations, Xing Yi reports from Shanghai.

he Lantern Festival is one of the most important traditional fes­ tivals in China. Celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar Tmonth and marking the end of the Chi­ nese lunar new year holiday, it falls on Friday this year. The Chinese name of the festival, Yuanxiao means the night of the first full moon in the Chinese calendar, and as the character yuan is homophonic to the word reunion, the festival also celebrates nered with Disney to put up Mickey and the reunion of family. Minnie Mouse lanterns to celebrate On the night of the festival, people will 2020’s animal of the Chinese zodiac. observe the moon, have a sumptuous The traditional food for the festival is meal, and enjoy time together with fami­ yuanxiao or tangyuan, which are simi­ ly and friends in parks or visit lantern lar ball­shaped dessert dumplings, made displays with them. with glutinous rice flour and stuffed with The annual lantern show at Yuyuan a variety of fillings. Garden, a historical tourist site in Shang­ The difference lies in how they are pre­ hai, started on Jan 28 and will run pared. In North China, people eat yuanx­ through February. iao, which is rolled in a basket with solid The annual celebrations have been fillings to become a big and round rice held for 26 years and are the city’s top flour ball. In South China, people eat attraction for tourists during Spring Fes­ tangyuan, which is made of a glutinous tival. The month­long celebration rice wrapper that covers the filling before attracts around 1 million visitors every being kneaded into a round ball. year. People visiting the lantern show in Each year, the show will feature differ­ Yuyuan Garden have many food choices. ent themes based on major upcoming Ningbo Tangtuan, a time­honored res­ events and the latest trends. This year, taurant dedicated to making tangyuan, large lighting installations featuring the is located inside the Yuyuan Garden ox, the Chinese zodiac animal for the shopping mall, along with many other lunar year, have been set up in the main time­honored restaurants, such as Nanx­ plaza. in Hangzhou’s West Lake, stone bridges Clockwise from top: A selec­ ed by Hong Kong designer Kenny Wong, iang Steamed Bun Restaurant, Lu Bo Lighting installations depicting and carp balloons, have been installed tion of the spectacular have also been made into lanterns and Lang Shanghai cuisine restaurant and Tian’anmen Square in Beijing, the red along the lake under the famous Nine lanterns on display at displayed in the shopping mall. The Song He Lou noodle shop. boat in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, and Zigzag Bridge to recreate the scene Shanghai’s Yuyuan Garden. dolls, promoted by toymaker Pop Mart, Besides Yuyuan Garden, other famous the Memorial of the First Congress of the from the mobile game One Hundred The annual show has been have become a craze among China’s lantern shows in China include the dis­ Communist Party of China have also Scenes of Jiangnan, which is popular in held for the past 26 years and youngsters in recent years, contributing plays at Nanjing’s Confucius Temple, been set up on the facade of the Hua Bao China. is among the city’s top tourist to the company’s successful initial public Jiangsu province, Xi’an City Wall, Mansion to celebrate the centenary of A themed performance on a boat is draws during the Spring offering in December. Shaanxi province and Zigong, Sichuan the Party which takes place on July 1. held every half hour from 6:30 pm to Festival period. The Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai has province. Lanterns with the traditional ele­ 8:30 pm. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY successfully attracted young people to ments of the Yangtze River Delta, such Molly dolls, the toy series featuring a participate in the celebration of the Chi­ Contact the writer at as the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon blue­eyed girl with curly short hair, creat­ nese traditional festival. Last year, it part­ [email protected]

Regions display shining examples of progress

By HUANG ZHILING in Chengdu Despite the splendor of the lan­ source of national revenue. most important folk activities. China’s Hunan and Hubei provinces decision­makers to treat lantern [email protected] terns at the famous museum, many But Zigong is best known for its Rather than treat lantern shows rose sharply and some other cities shows as a new economic growth Sichuan people long to visit Zigong, lanterns, the history of which dates as merely a traditional activity dur­ and counties in Sichuan started pro­ point. Residents of Sichuan province, a city in Sichuan, the lanterns of back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618­ ing the Spring Festival, Zigong holds ducing their own salt. In the summer of 1988, Zigong shunning travel outside the south­ which are considered to be among 907). them during different seasons and This growing competition had an held a large lantern show in Bei­ western province in the aftermath China’s best. The city, designated as a national­ even in different countries. impact on the revenue of Zigong’s jing’s Beihai Park, which lasted 46 of COVID­19, have a new attraction However, out of consideration for level historical and cultural city by Before the Sixth Five­Year Plan salt enterprises, and the city’s eco­ days. In addition to being a great to visit that’s closer to home; the lan­ epidemic prevention, the city will the central government, has made (1981­85), Zigong’s economy, domi­ nomic growth rate lagged behind financial success, it made Zigong’s terns at the Jinsha Site Museum in not offer a lantern show at this time many of China’s best lanterns. nated by the salt industry, exceeded that of newer industrial cities in lanterns known to the rest of the Chengdu. of year. For this reason, the former Minis­ the national economic growth rate Sichuan. country. Sixteen arches with lanterns in the Any mention of Zigong, about 200 try of Culture named Zigong “the and made it the province’s third During the Spring Festival in 1987, In the autumn of 1990, Zigong shape of flowers — peach, lotus, kilometers from Chengdu, reminds birthplace of China’s art of lantern­ largest industrial city. Zigong held a 40­day lantern show. was approved by the former Minis­ chrysanthemum and plum — have people of its nearly 2,000­year histo­ making” and the former National But, over­reliance on a single The city of some 3 million people try of Culture to hold a 17­day lan­ lit up the night sky over the museum. ry of salt production and, until Tourism Administration designated product became a problem by the attracted 2.3 million tourists. tern show in Singapore, which was The museum, which covers an recently, this was an important its lantern show as one of China’s late 1980s. Salt output in Central The success prompted Zigong’s the first time the city had held a lan­ area of 300,000 square meters and tern show overseas. is a National Archaeological Site “Since then, Zigong has held Park, also displays lanterns featur­ shows in 76 countries and regions ing the culture of, and implements around the world. Despite COVID­ related to, farming, sun worship and 19, shows were held in 30 cities in folk customs. more than 20 countries in 2020,” They highlight the fact that Sich­ says Yang Bin, head of the Zigong uan is a major grain producing municipal government information region and that the museum over­ office. “Visitors are impressed by the saw the excavation of a 3,000­year­ lanterns made of china, glass and old goldleaf sunbird in 2001. The medicine bottles,” he adds. golden disc was adopted as the sym­ Opened to the public in 1994, the bol of Chinese cultural heritage by China Lantern Museum in Zigong, the State Administration of Cultural built with earnings from the lantern Heritage in 2005. shows, is China’s largest museum of According to the administration, its kind. its exquisite craftsmanship, repre­ With 151 modern and contempo­ sentation of ancient Chinese peo­ rary Chinese lanterns, and 12 con­ ple’s worship of the sun and the temporary foreign ones, it has Chinese nation’s enterprising spirit From left: Lanterns in the shape of flowers from all four seasons are a feast for the eyes at the Jinsha Site Museum in Chengdu, Sichuan attracted 740,000 visitors since 2017, account for the decision. province. Other lanterns at the venue pay homage to sun worship in ancient times. HUANG LERAN / FOR CHINA DAILY said curator Dai Yanling.