Karamay, the city in western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has launched a five-day extravaganza of light shows and folk performances to celebrate Lantern Festival.

The celebrations got started on the night of Lantern Festival, which this year fell on Feb 11, and will continue until Feb 15.

Falling on the night of the first full moon of the Lunar New Year each year, Lantern Festival has been celebrated in China for more than 2,000 years and is typically marked with spectacular lantern shows, eating festive delicacies such as tangyuan, or glutinous rice balls and taking part in many traditional cultural activities.

Karamay has given its own unique twist to the ancient holiday, organizing a number of performances and activities based around the region’s local cultural heritage alongside other cultural traditions that can be found all over China.

Visitors enjoy a lantern show featuring folk traditions and folk tales at the Karamay Hanbo Cultural and Creative Industry Park in downtown Karamay, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Feb 11. [Photo/kelamayi.com.cn]

More than 10,000 people turned up for the first night of celebrations on Feb 11 to sample the festive atmosphere. Activities were held in three locations around the city, namely Karamay Hanbo Cultural and Creative Industry Park downtown, Sports and Gym Center Square in Baijiantan district and the Cultural Center in Dushanzi district.

Visitors were treated to a range of traditional performances such as dragon dances and shehuo parades featuring brightly-dressed acrobats, dancers and musicians, alongside more local spectacles like the “waist drum” performance common in Northwest China.

Citizens compete to solve lantern riddles written on red ribbons at the festival in Karamay, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Feb 11. [Photo/kelamayi.com.cn]

The highlight of the festival was the lantern riddles competition, where visitors had to guess the answers to riddles written on red ribbons hung around the lantern show area. The winners of the competition won virtual hongbao, red envelopes filled with cash, which were paid to them via WeChat, the Chinese social media app.

Zhang Shuying, a 67-year-old retiree from a local community, said she had enjoyed the dragon dance and waist drum performance with her husband. “The street is so busy with people even though it’s quite cold today. My husband and I were so excited to spend the traditional festival in such a new way,” said Zhang.

Dancers perform in a grand dancing show stages at the Cultural Center in Dushanzi district in Karamay, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Feb 11. [Photo/kelamayi.com.cn]

Visitors also have a chance to try their hands at several folk arts, such as making zisha, or purple clay, pottery at the Karamay Zisha Experience Center in Karamay Hanbo Cultural and Creative Industry Park.

An exhibition of paintings, calligraphy works and photography works is also on display at the festival.

Firesworks and red lanterns light up the night of Lantern Festival in Karamay, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Feb 11. [Photo/kelamayi.com.cn]

Edited by Dominic Morgan