Activities Lantern Festival in China
by Catherine

February14

Chinese people celebrate Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, marks the end of Chinese New Year celebrations. It is also celebrated on the first Full Moon of the Lunar Year. So what activities that people usually do during that time. Lots of activities can be enjoyed all over China. People will eat yuanxiao or tangyuan, set the lantern at home, or just attend different activities of the Lantern Festival in each city. Here's how you can celebrate in destinations around the country.

Guessing Lantern Riddles
Lantern Riddles

Besides eating yuanxiao (made of sweet rice flour) and enjoy lantern festival, guessing lantern riddles is an essential part of the Festival. Locals can visit famous temples in their city where usually host this activity. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have the answers to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer. If they are right, they will get a little gift.

The Lion Dance
Lion Dance

Lion and dragon dances, acrobatic performances and fireworks are also features of this special day. This famous lion dance is not only popular in China, but also gaining its popularity outside China. The lion dance is supposed to bring good luck and is one of the most spectacular of New Year traditions. It is performed by two dancers: one at the head and one at the tail of the Lion. To make the lion more life-like, the eyelids, mouth and ears of the lion usually move. Players should have special skills trained it before.

Lantern Festival Celebration All over China
Qinhuai River Lantern Festival

Tazi Shan Park is also the site of an annual Lantern Fair, an event highlighted by illuminated lanterns of all shapes and sizes. Jinli Street in Chengdu is also a great place to go, host annual temple fair. Activities will include Chinese traditional performances, extensive exhibitions of Chinese art and crafts, stalls of Chinese delicacies, and beloved Chinese traditions such as lantern riddles.

Different regions in China have their own special traditions, so does along Qinhuai River, a branch of the Yangtze River runs through central Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. Though shuttling boats with red lanterns and beautiful geishas were already historical things, the tradition of enjoying lanterns and guessing riddles along the river bank has been inherited till now.

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