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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.
The annual Taiwan Lantern Exhibition on Monday evening, has a 26-meter figure of the Monkey King as its centerpiece, the leading character in the Chinese classic "Journey to the West," in celebration of the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese zodiac.
In Shanghai, the Yu Garden Fair not only presents traditional lanterns but also the latest high-tech lighting. With a monkey theme, the lantern fair features lasers and pop music. Though these modern shows attract huge numbers of people, some are keen to preserve more traditional celebrations.
"Decorating lanterns is a most important cultural activity which has existed for thousands of years," said Xu Hualong of Shanghai folk artists association. "New elements have been added to the lantern show, but we should be careful to preserve traditional decoration techniques."
Lantern-maker Zhu Lei, 88, runs a shop near Yu Garden. He made more than 500 lanterns by hand in the months leading up to the festival.
"I do not do it for money. I just want to preserve what has been passed on in my family for generations," he said.
Pray for progeny, prosperity
It is a popular day for people to visit temples. Xi Nan, 32, a Beijing local, went to Yonghegong Lama Temple in the morning to pray for a second child this year. China has allowed all couples to have a second child since Jan. 1.
After the celebrations of the Lantern Festival, college graduates and migrant workers would leave home for big cities to seek their their fortune. The emphasis has firmly switched for those hot jobs of years like real estate sellers, and new job seekers are looking for positions in emerging industries like new energy, information, and e-commerce. These industries are desperately seeking new talent and offer technical training.
There is a saying in China that "the whole year's work depends on a good start in spring." Many view Lantern Festival as a chance to make such a start.
Red lanterns go green
Fireworks on Lantern Festival have been a must for many centuries, but today the air quality in Beijing was measured as "medium," and to reduce the pollution from firework smoke, authorities suggested that Beijing residents do not set off fireworks.
In nearby Shijiazhuang, one of the most polluted cities in the country, fireworks are completely banned downtown as the weather of the city on Monday was not favorable for the diffusion of pollutants.
