With great verve and passion, Chinese people are celebrating Lantern Festival in both traditional or trendy ways, despite the gloom of smog and economic slowdown.
The festival, which falls on Feb. 22, this year brings an end to Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. It is the day when people see themselves starting a new life in a new year.
China's cities are festooned with red lanterns on gates, along the streets and most public places. Folk dances are staged in streets and squares, with lantern shows and fireworks putting a brilliant, dazzling final touch to the celebration.
DANCING IN THE STREETS
Lantern Festival is an important family day, but unlike Spring Festival when people stay home for family dinners, Lantern Festival is a day for going out and about.
In southwest China's Sichuan Province, 20 dragon dance troupes gathered in Luxian County. The county is believed to be the home of China's dragon culture and performances are frequently staged there on festive occasions. A team of dancers under a long dragon "costume" painted red or gold use poles to manipulate the the dragon's head and serpentine "body." They dance to the accompaniment of drums, twisting the dragon as it "dances," shaking its head and swinging its tail through the crowds.
Another folk dance, "Yangge," was performed on Monday morning in Yan'an city, the "Red Cradle" of the Chinese revolution in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Staging the dance on Lantern Festival has become a tradition in the city. This year, about 3,000 performers in bright costumes with colorful umbrellas, fans and red ribbons danced to local folk music and drums.
NEW LAMPS FOR OLD!
The Lantern Festival dates back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD). Lanterns are almost always red; the color of good fortune in China, but today people are using new techniques to decorate their lanterns, adding fashionable new elements to an old tradition.
