Shanghai's Lantern Festival Draws Crowds
Shanghai's historic Yuyuan Garden became a tourist magnet during the Lantern Festival on March 2, hosting traditional folk art performances and spectacular illuminated lantern displays. The event attracted large numbers of visitors, showcasing Shanghai's blend of heritage and modern city life. The celebration signals a continued rebound in cultural tourism post-pandemic.
This year's Lantern Festival, marking the Year of the Horse, continues a popular narrative inspired by the ancient text *Classic of Mountains and Seas*. The theme, "The Vast Wild," uses glowing horse displays to celebrate freedom and courage, transforming the historic garden into an immersive celestial landscape. The festival blends ancient craftsmanship with modern technology. A three-story-high revolving lantern built with traditional mortise-and-tenon wood techniques uses digital projections to animate festive scenes. On the iconic Nine-Turn Bridge, light shows depict the 28 constellations of Chinese astronomy and mythical creatures rising from the water. While the Lantern Festival tradition is over 2,000 years old, the Yuyuan Garden event began in 1995 and has since become a Shanghai staple. In 2011, it was officially designated as a national intangible cultural heritage, cementing its cultural significance. For the first time, the 2026 celebration has expanded beyond the ticketed garden into five additional free zones. These areas extend the festival's reach to the Bund Finance Center and the Bund waterfront, creating a city-wide spectacle. Beyond the lights, the festival is steeped in tradition. It marks the final day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, and visitors often partake in customs like solving riddles attached to the lanterns and eating sweet glutinous rice balls called *tangyuan*, which symbolize family unity. The event underscores a significant recovery in tourism. During the 2026 Spring Festival holiday period, Shanghai recorded 21.67 million visitors and 25.6 billion yuan in tourism-related spending. The festival is a major contributor to this economic activity and a pillar of the city's nighttime economy.
