Zigong Lantern Festival
Today, we talk about the hometown of Chinese Lantern Festival, the name is ‘Zigong Lantern Festival‘.
The fancy lanterns were well-known in both ancient and modern times in China, and the Zigong Lantern Festival has a great reputation. The wise people in Zigong is not only unparalleled techniques of salts in the world, but also the wonderful fancy lantern crafts to humans. The Lantern Festival prevailed over thousands of years, the Zigong Lantern Festival concentrates all the wonderful of the Chinese lantern cultures and stands out with such prominence that it has won the honor of “the premier lantern in the world”, and thus Zigong, a famous historic and cultural city in China, has become well-known in the world as the “city of salt”, “birthplace of dinosaurs” and “southern city of lanterns”. The Lantern Festival in Zigong boost a long history and remarkable features. It has been a custom since the Tang Dynasty to light lanterns when the New Year came. Up to the Qing Dynasty there emerged the “lion Lantern Festival” and “lantern pole festival”.
Zigong Lantern Festival
And at the beginning of the 20th century, “lantern-lifting festival” came into being, together with such activities as “flying Kongming lanterns” (or sky lanterns), “dragon lantern dance”, “lion lantern party” and “fancy lantern party”. Gradually the Zigong Lantern Festival develops into a series of festivals integrating local folk customs and cultures with nation-wide reputation.
After 1949, the Zigong Lantern Festival which had been suspended for a time had the opportunity of being resumed and giving out extraordinary radiance. 9 sessions of New Year Lantern Festival and 8th of International Dinosaur Lantern Festival have been held in succession. With increasing reputation, the Zigong Lantern Festival has been made the most typical Lantern Festival in South China contrasting the Harbin Ice Lantern Festival in North China. The Zigong CPC Committee and Zigong Municipal Government lay great emphasis on the Lantern Festival and the citizens of Zigong make joint efforts to run the Lantern Festival, following the principle of “taking the Lantern Festival as the medium to make friends and revitalize the economy” and “taking pride in the Lantern Festival and refreshing ourselves to build Zigong”, and the guideline of “running the people’s Lantern Festival by the efforts of the people”. The Lantern Festivalcarries forward the excellent national cultures of the Chinese and takes the path of promoting trade through culture and integrating trade and culture, thus winning the care, support and acknowledgement from Comrade Deng Xiaoping and General Secretary Jiang Zemin and other Party and State leaders. The Zigong Lantern Festival is famous for high-end taste, numerous lantern giftware, prominent artistic features and magnificent spectacle. In the ocean of lanterns, there seem to be red and romantic attics, jade-like and golden rays and flowing radiance. There seem to be birds’ chirps, wandering dragons and dancing phoenixes. Lights and scenes mixing together constitute a panorama of lanterns, a symphonic poem of lanterns. Lingering in lantern corridors and pavilions and lounging under clusters of lanterns takes every tourist into a fancy world. This night will certainly fall on their memory every year.
There is no other Lantern Festival in China or the world has such large vigor, artful lantern combination, exquisite craftsmanship and strong local flavor as the Zigong Lantern Festival. It attracts throngs of tourists and earns honor from domestic as well as international visitors for its unique appeal and endless charm. Since the reform and opening-up, the Zigong Lantern Festival has its footprints all over China. Over 40 metropolitans, cities and regions like Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Xi’an, Lanzhou, Changchun, Lhasa, Urumqi, Harbin, Baotou, Taizhong of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau SARs have played host to more than 70 sessions of the Festival contributing to a new-stage development of Chinese lantern culture. Since the 1990s, the Zigong Lantern Festival, as the messenger for the Chinese nationality, strode into the international arena and held exhibitions in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan for up to 10 times, spreading the brilliance and splendor of Chinese lantern culture to all parts of the world. And more people from more places in the world can enjoy it after the festival is on the Internet by October 1, 1997.
The Zigong Lantern Festival has achieved favorable social effects and economic effects. Up till now, over 50 million domestic and international visitors have been to the Zigong Lantern Festival, and internal and external trade volume in the Lantern Festival has exceeded 10 billion yuan. The accumulated revenue from the Lantern Festival alone has been used to build China Lantern Museum, the only one in the country. In Zigong, lantern manufacturing, lantern exhibition, and lantern and trade Festival have become a new industrial and economic growth point. Zigong lantern and trade Festival has turned out to be a grant festival integrating culture, technology and tourism, a large window for solidarity and cooperation, opening-up and development, and external publicity, as well as a huge market attracting swarms of customers and promoting investment, thus effectively boosting opening-up and economic development of Zigong city.
The people create the Lantern Festival, which in turn benefit the people. In the new century, the Zigong Lantern Festival will surely appear with brand new exotic scenes and wonders and give out more splendid and eye-catching radiance.
Maybe you are interested in these details about Zigong Lantern Festival:
- 12th Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival 2006
- 13th Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival 2007
- 14th Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival 2008
- 15th Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival 2009
- 16th Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival 2010
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Your blog is so informative … keep up the good work!!!!
Hello,
I want to bring a lantern festival to the United States. I would like to talk to you about cost please email me.
i have a big event for lantern in medal east please contact me ASAP
This is simply beautiful. Many of the countries have their own ‘light’ dedicated festivals. There’s Hanukkah, Diwali in India and many more. I believe such festivals help bring the people together and nurture a sense of nationalism.