The opening ceremony started with Yunnan’s original musical Zou Hun (Walking Marriage). [Photo/Xinhua]

The 2014 Yunnan Lantern Art Festival opened in the Xuanwei Cultural Center on Nov 3, Yunnan.net reported.

The festival is themed around pride for local lantern arts. It is part of a series of activities celebrating the 65th anniversary of the birth of China. During the festival, a lantern show, lantern playplet and lantern musical will be performed. A symposium themed around lantern arts will be held as well. Altogether 12 delegations will attend the series activities during the lantern festival. Audiences can see 27 lantern playlet performances and 15 lantern musicals. Meanwhile, 52 singers will participate in the singing competition during the festival period.

Yunnan’s lantern arts have a long history and are loved by local people. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, a series of distinguished lantern shows have appeared in Yunnan. In recent years, lantern artists in Yunnan have inherited traditional lantern culture while injecting new vitality.

The festival is jointly organized by the Yunnan Publicity Department, Yunnan Culture Department, and Yunnan Literature and Arts Association. Yunnan Broadcasting and TV Station, the Qujing publicity department and Xuanwei’s local government also supported the organization of the festival.

Edited by Michael Thai