As Lantern Festival is coming nearer and nearer, various festive lanterns are hung on the streets inBeijing, running over with a strong festive atmosphere here and there. Flaming lanterns, fiery “Fu” character, fire-like Chinese knots and glowing faces…are everywhere. Each lantern is just like a firefly of the night, besides, its form is also telling the best wishes of the lantern holder on Lantern Festival. By high-speed rail, go toBeijingto choose one festive lantern and take back a good mood.
Lantern Show at Qianmen inBeijing, 2011
Time:February15 – February 17(January13 –January 15of lunar calendar)
Place:
Qianmen Street
Highlights:enjoying lanterns and guessing lantern riddles, folk-custom strolling on the street, shopping… there will be a large lantern show lasting three days at Qianmen Street from February 15thto February 17th. Its scale is larger than that of last year. According to the introduction, we know that the number of lanterns laid out on the whole street in order to celebrate the Lantern Festival exceed one thousand. Lantern Festival activities consist of lighting up ceremony, enjoying lanterns and entertainments, performing on the street. 12 Chinese Zodiac lantern sets are laid out across the street from Dajiang Hutong to the south corner of
Qianmen Street
, with lantern decorations and corresponding zodiac pendants, etc. inside the lanterns. Here will be for visitors guessing riddles and enjoying themselves as a lantern riddle area. Moreover, a “City Gate” will be set at the south corner ofQianmen Street
, thus, the visitors can experience “touching the nails on the gate” for luckiness. Besides the solemn lighting up ceremony held at six thirty in the evening of January 15th, there are traditional street performances showed on Qianmen Street from 10 to 11 o’clock every morning from which you can enjoy marvelous shows, such as five blessings adding fortune, dragon and lion dance, emperor watching lantern, traditional operas, magic, acrobatics, hawking, etc.Traveling tip:
Bus route: take BRT No.1 bus,Special Line No.2, Olympic Line No.2,Special Line No.4, No.5, Special Line No.7,No.8,No.9, No.17, No.20, No.22,No.44 Outer Ring,No.44 Inner Ring, No.48, No.59, No.66, No.67, No.69, No.71, No.120, No.126, No.201 (night), No.203 (night), No. 209 (night), No.212 (night), No.301, No.337, No.646, No.673, No.690, No.692, No.723, No. 729, No.803, No.808 and No.826 bus, and get off at Qianmen Stop.
Subway route: takesubway Line No.2 Inner Ringor subway Line No.2 Outer Ring and get off at Qianmen Stop.
Lantern Showat Sanlitun, 2011
Time:February 17, 2011– February 20, 2011
Place:Sanlitun International Modern Block
Highlights:
The special activity worth watching on Lantern Show at Sanlitun(a street inBeijingfamous for bars)International Modern Block is “Rabbit God” show. 12 different sets of creative lantern houses with various scripts of “(Deng Cai Jiang Hu)” Chinese characters printed on will be shown at the mainsquareofVillage. What’s more, a hundred or so colored-lanterns with different shape and size which are in national-levelnon-material cultural heritagelist, such as Lanterns with Prosperity Brought by Dragon and Phoenix, Dragon Boat Racing Lanterns, Nanhai Kwan-yin Lanterns, Dragon Head Lucky Lanterns, Lanterns with Two Dragons Playing with the Peal, Lanterns with Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, Lotus Lanterns, Peacock Lanterns, Carp Lanterns, Off Year Lanterns, etc. will be showed in the Orange Hall. Furthermore, those colored-lanterns are placed in the atmosphere of traditional Hutong of Beijing, which is mingled with a kind of emotion, thus makes the specialBeijingflavor stronger.
Traveling tip:
Traveling route: take No.113, 115, 406, 416 Ring Line, 431, 701, 758 buses to get there.
