This Saturday, February 24th, marks the Lantern Festival, and the Beijing Park Management Center is highlighting 20 lantern-themed park activities. Parks such as the Summer Palace, Fragrant Hills, Jingshan Park, Zizhuyuan Park, and Yuyuantan Park will host a variety of lantern festival experiences including intangible cultural heritage, folk customs, and handicraft activities, allowing visitors to enjoy spring flowers, guess lantern riddles, make lanterns, watch shadow puppet shows, draw sugar paintings, and immerse themselves in the festive atmosphere.

Several parks will host lantern riddle guessing and handicraft activities

Classical gardens like the Summer Palace, Beihai Park, and Fragrant Hills will offer lively cultural experiences in iconic areas such as Garden of virtuous harmony, Yongan Temple, and Zhiyuan Studio.

At the Summer Palace, visitors can make dragon lanterns, participate in dragon dance activities, create auspicious dragon decorations, and learn about the charm of ancient architectural paintings through explanations and puzzle activities.

Beihai Park will organize lantern riddle guessing activities at Yongan Temple, adding fun to park visits by writing riddles on lanterns. Fragrant Hills Park's Zhiyuan Studio corridor will hang lanterns from different dynasties and styles, with lantern riddle guessing and quick question-and-answer sessions.

Temple of Heaven will launch the "Auspicious Dragon Presents Blessings" educational activities, allowing visitors to participate in lantern riddle guessing and lantern-making folklore activities both offline and online, and to enjoy the traditional music series "Ancient Melodies" online, experiencing the charm of traditional music.

Jingshan Park's New Year cultural and food market, featuring Jingshan's New Year cultural and creative products, traditional crafts, Beijing-style cuisine, creative merchandise, and zodiac-themed products, has been popular among citizens and tourists.

Yuyuantan Park will host the "Jade Sees Music Pavilion" theme activities, offering exhibitions, shadow puppet shows, drum performances, and flower arrangement activities such as paper-cutting, face painting, lantern making, couplet writing, and flower arrangement.

Zizhuyuan Park will hold activities such as Flying Flower Order, throwing the pot, lantern riddle guessing, and folk music performances at Youxianshan Hall. Taoranting Park will recruit families to experience sugar painting.

Beijing Zoo will invite visitors to experience intangible cultural heritage handicrafts at the Science Popularization Square. The China National Botanical Garden (North Park) will set up lantern riddles at three locations including the Creative Products Store, Qinpuxuefang, and the Seasonal Life Pavilion. The Museum of Chinese Gardens and Landscape Architecture will hold experience activities such as window flower paper cutting, wax plum sculpting, Nine-Nine Cold Dispelling Chart, and traditional incense culture in areas like the Creation Workshop and Chunyutang.

Wintersweet calling for Spring

The appearance of wintersweet blossoms in municipal parks, enhanced by the first snow of the Year of the Dragon, has added a fresh and elegant atmosphere, attracting visitors to enjoy the "snow and plum blossom" scenery at parks such as the Summer Palace, Fragrant Hills, National Botanical Garden (North Park), Taoranting Park, and Yuyuantan Park.

This weekend, indoor flower exhibitions in some parks will bring a strong sense of spring to the Lantern Festival. Fragrant Hills Park has set up a spring flower exhibition at Songlin Restaurant, combining camellias, rhododendrons, peonies, osmanthus, kumquats, and orchids in unique arrangements.

After the Spring Festival holiday, Zhongshan Park has replaced its Tanghuawu flowers with plum blossoms, primroses, rhododendrons, cherry blossoms, and plum leaves, combined with seasonal boutique flowers such as azaleas, potted orchids, and North American holly, creating a lively Lantern Festival atmosphere.

Beihai Park will host Spring Flower Arrangement Exhibition, using classical Chinese vases, plates, baskets, cylinders, and other flower containers, as well as symbolic and beautiful flowers and plants to decorate the Chanfu Temple, showcasing the charm of traditional Chinese flower arrangement art.

Zizhuyuan Park will hold a floral lantern festival exhibition and explain traditional Chinese flower arranging customs through lectures for online audiences.

Translator: NIU Lihua

Reviewer: JIANG Wenyi