[Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]
The annual Yuyuan Lantern Festival kicked off on Monday in Shanghai and will expand for the first time to several other areas near The Bund, featuring diverse collections of lanterns to mark the upcoming Year of the Horse.
Running through March 3, this year's celebration is set to extend beyond Yuyuan Garden Malls to The Bund Finance Center, Ancient City Park, Middle Fangbang Road, Fuyou Road, and The Bund, which will light up on Feb 1.
With colorful and traditional lanterns blended with technologies and artistic fashion, the illuminated areas will connect the past, present and future of the city's major landmarks, and offer visitors diverse experiences such as sightseeing, interactive activities, shopping, delicacies, and cultural events.
As the core part of the festival, the theme and light installations at Yuyuan are also inspired by Shan Hai Jing, or The Classic of Mountains and Seas, a major source of Chinese mythology that dates back over 2,000 years.
[Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]
Through the masterful fusion of intangible cultural heritage lantern craftsmanship with cutting-edge digital light art, this area presents a visual feast where traditional Chinese culture intertwines with modern technologies. The theme symbolizes life as a vast "wilderness" rather than a fixed "track", encouraging people to bravely explore it and courageously pursue their dreams like a galloping horse in a changing world.
"The lantern installations at Yuyuan Garden present more of folk cultures, while the ones in other areas will be more modern and fashionable. Combining traditional culture with technology, we hope this year's festival will bring the citizens in Shanghai and tourists from across the world closer to the Chinese New Year," said Hu Junjie, vice-president of Yuyuan Inc.
Notably, this year's festival will further extend Shanghai's Chinese New Year vibe across the nation. Some of the lantern installations will also be set up in other cities such as Suzhou in Jiangsu province, Ningbo in Zhejiang province, Tianjin, Shenyang in Liaoning province, and Quanzhou in Fujian province.
[Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]
