From dragons to drums, provinces' traditions enliven Lantern Festival celebrations

The Lantern Festival celebrations in Liancheng county, Longyan, Fujian province, are more fun and more exciting more than you might imagine. One captivating event are the handmade paper dragons, which can be dozens or even hundreds of meters in length, that dance through the streets, accompanied by fireworks, drums and performances. The display climaxes with the dragon being burned by the river, in the hopes of a good year and to chase away evil.

One 150-meter-long dragon, which took 30 craftsmen almost 1,500 hours to complete, was  brought to Beijing to enliven the city’s own Lantern Festival, which fell on Wednesday.

The Museum of the Communist Party of China and its neighbor, the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum, presented folk performances in their shared outdoor square on Feb 11 and 12. 

Folk artists from the south to the north were present to demonstrate their own celebrations, including a drumming show from Fuping county, Shaanxi province, and the puppet shows popular in northern Sichuan province.