To see the lanterns, not only Beijing has many wonderful large-scale lantern festivals about to open. During the Spring Festival in Hebei Tianjin, there are also many large-scale lantern festivals shining brightly, showing the unique charm of local culture. Let's take a look!

01.2025 Tianjin Wan Deng Qi Xin Garden Party (2025天津万灯启新游园会)

"Jincai Nanwang Dongyun Haitang" - The 2025 Tianjin Wan Deng Qi Xin Garden Party was launched on the evening of December 28, 2024, and lasted for nearly two months. It is located in the Haitangjie (St) Lvdong BOX Vitality Block in Jinnan District. This is the first container-themed block in Tianjin, highlighting theme decoration, colorful lights, cultural creation, and immersive experience scenes such as fun activities. The block has eight large lantern groups, including "Da Fu", "Da Ji", a hundred-meter dragon, poetry lanterns, Sun Wukong, transfer flower drums, koi fish surnames, and traditional solar terms. Each group of lanterns is presented in a "matrix-style" or "wall-style" with more than 10,000 lanterns shining brightly.

With "praying for blessings" and "receiving blessings" as the theme, various traditional folk cultural activities such as non-heritage iron flower pounding, traditional fire pot, face-changing of Chinese Sichuan opera, lion dance, stilts, yangko dance, and Tang Dynasty spinning top will be held at fixed times every night.

02.2025 Tianjin Shuixi Park Lantern Festival (2025天津水西公园灯会)

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas New Year's Party will be held in Tianjin Shuixi Park from January 22 to February 16, covering an area of 200,000 square meters. With the theme of "Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas", it will create a New Year's "fantastic creatures carnival" in the form of "lantern festival + temple fair + performance". The "thousand people lighting the lanterns" event will be staged in the park at 17:00 every day during the event. The park's colorful lights will be lit simultaneously, and the staff will release electronic Kongming lanterns, allowing citizens and tourists to celebrate the New Year in a sea of lights.

03. Tianjin Yangliuqing Lantern Exhibition (天津杨柳青灯展)

The 28th Yangliuqing Lantern Exhibition with the theme of "New Year's Painting in China, Painting and Touring Xiqing" is expected to be lit on the first day of the lunar new year (January 29) and will be free until the 16th day of the first lunar month (February 13).

This lantern festival is based on New Year's paintings, with more than 40 lantern groups, integrating Tianjin Yangliuqing non-heritage New Year's paintings, paper-cutting, kites, and combining Xiqing Jingwumen culture, Gandaoying culture, adding snake year elements and local characteristics, creating China's first New Year's painting-themed lantern festival.

04. 2025 Hebei Dingzhou Snake Year Lantern Festival (2025年河北定州蛇年灯会)

On the evening of December 31, 2024, the 2025 Hebei Dingzhou Qirun Green City Snake Year Lantern Festival opened brilliantly in the Silk Road Friendship Garden and will last until March 1, 2025.

The Lantern Festival has the theme of "Snake Dance Welcomes Spring · Brilliant Dingzhou". There are a total of six main theme sections, including "Theme Greetings, Snake Dance Welcomes Spring, Zhongshan Light, Legends to Share, Sensing Dingzhou, and Praising China", with 34 groups of lantern works that cover both historical and modern aesthetics, showcasing Dingzhou's profound cultural heritage and contemporary creativity. The "Dingzhou Pagoda Lantern" is modeled after the Dingzhou Tower and is exquisitely crafted in a 1:10 ratio, combined with light and shadow technology to become a highlight of the Lantern Festival. The replica flower lantern of the Ding kiln white-glazed carved flower dragon head net bottle from the Northern Song Dynasty, a national treasure cultural relic of Dingzhou, symbolizes the beautiful vision of a prosperous and peaceful era.

In addition, the Lantern Festival also integrates popular IP theme lanterns such as "King of Glory" and "Sanxingdui", as well as interactive experience areas, food and New Year goods markets, and folk performances such as "Iron Flower Hammering", providing visitors with a rich and diverse park experience.

Lighting time: From now until March 1, 2025, the lanterns will be lit every night from 17:40 to 21:30. During the holiday period, the folk performance "Iron Flower Hammering" will have two shows every night from 18:30 to 19:00 and from 20:00 to 20:30. In case of inclement weather or other circumstances, the schedule may be adjusted accordingly.

Dingzhou City's scenic spot ticket discount policy: From January 1 to March 1, the fee-charging scenic spots in Dingzhou City, including the Kaiyuan Temple Pagoda, Dingzhou Gongyuan, Dingzhou Confucian Temple, Daoguan Temple, and Han Tomb Stone Carving Museum, will offer a half-price ticket discount. Dingzhou City's long-term free admission scenic spots include the Dingzhou Museum, Zhongchun Garden, Yan Zhao Fengshang Garden, and Silk Road Friendship Garden.

Note: The half-price ticket discount policy does not include scenic spot combination tickets, tower climbing tickets, or secondary consumption items within the scenic spots. During the Silk Road Friendship Garden Lantern Festival, the garden is free to enter until 14:00, and visitors must present their lantern exhibition tickets for entry after 14:00.

05. 2025 Zhengding Ancient City Lantern Festival (2025年河北正定古城灯会)

The 2025 Zhengding Ancient City Lantern Festival will officially light up on January 22 (the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month) and will be open for free until March 1 (the second day of the second lunar month), creating one main venue, two auxiliary venues, and one cultural block, including the South Gate Ancient City Wall main venue, Yanghe Tower, East Gate auxiliary venue, and the cultural street block.

There are four main theme areas designed, including "Brilliant Lanterns, Thousand Years of Light, Song of the Earth, and Wonderland of Childhood", with 18 large-scale lantern groups that will showcase festival culture, local culture, urban scenery, and children's themes.

A dragon and phoenix lantern, about 8.5 meters high and nearly 100 meters long, will appear again in a more rich and exquisite form. The lantern festival will showcase the cultural connotation of the ancient city in "Dream of the Red Chamber" by creating the "Twelve Beauties of Jinling" as character lanterns on the city wall. The image of Zhao Zilong and the twelve zodiac signs will also be presented one by one in front of the audience. "The fire tree and silver flower light up the night sky, and the flowing light and colorful lanterns shine on the ancient city." A grand festival full of festive atmosphere is about to begin.

06. 2025 Tangshan Nanhu Spring Festival Lantern Festival (2025河北唐山南湖春节灯会)

The 2025 Tangshan Nanhu Spring Festival Lantern Festival in Hebei Province, with the theme of "Magical China," will be lit up on January 22 in the Nanhu tourist area of Tangshan, Hebei Province. The three major theme lantern areas of "Festive China," "Miracle China," and "Mythical China" are full of flowing light and colorful lanterns, bringing you the festive atmosphere of lanterns as bright as day and starting a journey of time and space full of oriental colors and Chinese romance.

In addition to the dazzling lantern groups, there are also theme light shows, drone fireworks shows, float parades, exciting performances, NPC interactions, and many other activities to ignite the Chinese New Year. There are also hundreds of food stalls to awaken your taste buds, and you can immerse yourself in watching hundreds of wonderful performances. The three major performing arts themes and six major performing arts forms will bring you a sense of New Year's ceremony.

If you go to Hebei in Tianjin for the Spring Festival, which lantern festival do you most want to see?