The Lantern Festival is one of the traditional festivals in China. During this year's Lantern Festival, people from all over the country celebrated the festival merrily, and the festive atmosphere grew thicker and warmer in the streets. In Beijing, 345 festive events featuring lantern making, riddle guessing and other cultural activities were organized. In Fengjing Township, Jinshan District of Shanghai, an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) fair was held for an extended period of time, presenting ICH craftsmanship, ICH cuisines, ICH education. At this year's Lantern Festival, ICHs decorated people's life and gave the perennial ICH culture a more presentable life in a new epoch.
The Lantern Festival originates from a folklore in kindling lanterns and praying for good livelihood, which also gives its name. Touring lantern fairs, eating sweet dumplings, performing lantern dances and walking on high tilts are some of the must-dos at the festival. The Lantern Festival sets up a stage for concentrated exhibition of amazing ICH craftsmanship, allowing traditional culture to creatively evolve based on generations of inheritance and presenting Chinese culture to the world.
ICH protection currently has entered into a new stage of systematic protection. As one of the earliest contracting parties of UNESCO's (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, China has been actively implementing the instructions of the Convention, exhibiting "Chinese wisdom", exploring an ICH development path fitting the China's own situations, and receiving prevalent recognition of the international community.
The 14th Five-Year Plan for Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage instructs that by 2025, representative ICH projects shall be effectively protected; the operating system shall be precise and normalized to ensure effective operation; the operating structure shall be more complete; the protection and inheritance system shall be more refined; innovative power shall be inspired; the public shall have a better sense of recognition, participation and ownership in ICH; ICH's role in serving the present and benefiting the public shall be further unleashed. Looking into the future, the only way to inherit historical treasures, share the fruits of protection and development and establish the country as a cultural force is through quality protection, inheritance and use of ICH including those shown at the Lantern Festival.
Carrying traditional lanterns
Qinhuai Lantern known for its dazzling colors and vivid shapes is one of Nanjing's (Jiangsu) most prominent folklore arts by adopting paper binding and other traditional arts. In recent years, on top of making the traditional lanterns like rabbit and lotus-shaped ones, the local ICH craftsmen have been delivering new products like rocket lanterns to reflect the status quo, which have become instant hits. In 2008, Lantern (Qinhuai Lantern) was ushered into the national representative ICH list.
Making perfect sweet dumplings
"Jin Fang", a Beijing time-honored brand always sticks to tight selection of ingredients and own cooking of stuffings, manual labor of making sweet dumplings and the very original recipe, which secures the potent shape and tantalizing taste of sweet dumplings. Jin Fang is adding a bold innovation to the tradition this year by selecting sea buckthorn from Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps as a new type of stuffing as well as promoting their new mini packages. In 2008, the old shop's sweet dumpling making craftmanship was inducted into the ICH list of Dongcheng District of Beijing.
Cracking creative lantern riddles
Chenghai Lantern Riddles of Chenghai District, Shantou City of Guangdong Province can go way back in history with over 20 ways of creation and hundreds of genres. It has become an indispensable entertainment option for local holidays and public events. At this Lantern Festival, Shantou has organized multiple riddle-guessing activities for locals to feel the unique charm of traditional Chinese culture. In 2008, Riddle (Chenghai Lantern Riddle) was enshrined into the national representative ICH projects.
Touring bright lantern fair
At each Lantern Festival, admiring lanterns at Yu Garden is a must-do for both locals and tourists in Shanghai. This edition of Yu Garden lantern fair has borrowed the fairy tale elements from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, extracted artistic elements from historical artifacts and integrated them into local ICH contents by cooperating with the Shanghai Museum and built a fantasy land with bright lanterns, ending up viral on the Internet. In 2011, Lantern Festival (Yu Garden Lantern Fair) was selected into the national representative ICH project list.
Performing dragon dance and firecracker ignition
Shouldering a dragon and dance with it, igniting firecrackers, then dancing with the fire dragon – the suspenseful and thrilling Taijiang (Guizhou) tradition of performing dragon dance and firecracker ignition is dubbed the game of the braves. It is an integration of the dragon-admiring culture of Miao nationality and Han nationality to express local's wishes for good weather, harvest and livelihood. In 2021, Lantern Festival (Performing Dragon Dance and Firecracker Ignition, a Tradition of Miao Nationality) locked a berth in the national representative ICH list.