Home : China Guide : Jiangsu : Festivals in Nanjing
Lantern Festival
 Held two weeks after the Lunar New Year, the Lantern Festival is one of the
liveliest Chinese festivals and an especially entertaining one for foreign
visitors. Nanjing hosts one of all China's most lavish and popular lantern
displays. There are many legends behind the lantern festival - some claim
it celebrates the success of a palace coup in the Han Dynasty, while others
maintain it began when an emperor recovered from a serious illness. But
what the Lantern Festival really means is a chance to stroll with your
friends through streets set ablaze with countless bright red lanterns.
 While many ordinary citizens hang lanterns in their homes, the Fuzi Miao
district the most lively place to see the festival. Already a great place
to stroll and window shop, streets and lampposts, storefronts and peddlers'
stalls are all festooned with countless red lanterns. The Qinhuai river
runs through the area, and its dark waters twinkle with the reflections of
the lanterns above. The epicenter of the lantern mania is the old Confucian
Temple at the heart of the district. Inside, the ancient inscriptions and
statues are overshadowed by elaborate and complex lantern sculptures. Teams
of artists create dozens of huge lanterns by crafting wooden frameworks and
covering them with translucent colored paper. Often standing over two
meters tall, they depict legendary creatures, the animals of the Chinese
zodiac, famous buildings, and sometimes even world events - an enormous
lantern was built to celebrate China's entry into the WTO! One the streets
outside throngs of locals window-shop and chat, their handheld lanterns
bobbing like bright buoys on the waves of the crowd. (Source: jstour.com)
 8 days Shanghai-Suzhou-Hangzhou-Wuzhen-Shanghai
| Jiangsu Tour Packages
Page
1
2
3 |
|
|
