Celebrating Spring Festival

(China Daily) The Lunar New Year is one of the most important events on the Chinese calendar and has been for thousands of years. 

As the biggest festival in China, the Lunar New Year has a lot to offer. In fashionable Shanghai and its neighboring cities, there are a number of events where people can experience the original folk flavor of the festival.

Guyi Garden 古漪园

The garden, with a history dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), will host a Spring Festival fair. Visitors can enjoy traditional snacks and observe traditional Chinese folk artwork being made. 

Visitors can also watch folk performances and masters of particular handicrafts will demonstrate their unique skills, such as paper-cutting and using syrup to draw animals and cartoon characters.

Open: now through March 8 Address: 218 Huyi Highway, Nanxiang town, Jiading district 嘉定区南翔镇沪宜公路218号 Ticket: 12 yuan ($1.92) per person

Square Pagoda Park 方塔园

Traditional Shanghai opera and Shaoxing opera performances will be performed in the park. Masters will demonstrate traditional artwork, and dragon and lion dancing.

Open: Feb 19 to March 8 Address: 235 East Zhongshan Road, Songjiang district 松江区中山东路235号 Ticket: 12 yuan per person

Nanxiang Old Street 南翔老街

Red lanterns will illuminate this historical, well-preserved area that is surrounded by traditional residential houses and commercial areas in the center of Nanxiang ancient town during the Spring Festival. Visitors can tie their New Year wishes to the trees and watch a boat parade.

Open: Feb 17 to March 5 Address: 206 Jiefang Street, Jiading district 嘉定区解放街206号 Ticket: 40 yuan per person

Grand View Garden 大观园

Local residents will dress up in traditional folk attire in the garden to make flower baskets and perform fan dances to show how people used to celebrate the Spring Festival. Visitors are welcome to join the show. This famous garden was built to resemble the garden described in A Dream of Red Mansions, a Chinese classic written by Cao Xueqin more than 200 years ago.

Open: Feb 19 to 24 Address: 701 Jinshang Highway, Qingpu district 青浦区金商公路701号 Ticket: 60 yuan per person

Zuibaichi Garden 醉白池公园

There will be a grand Spring Festival fair held on the central lawn of the park. From Feb 15 to 17, the first 50 visitors will receive New Year couplets written by renowned calligraphers. On the afternoon of the Lantern Festival, which falls on March 5, there will be a traditional contest in which participants must answer riddles written on lanterns.

Open: now through March 15 Address: 64 South Renmin Road, Songjiang district 松江区人民南路64号 Ticket: 12 yuan per person Around Shanghai

Hengdian

There will be a special Spring Festival fair at Hengdian World Studios, the largest film and TV set in China. Visitors will be invited to join group dancing, taste traditional Beijing-style snacks and win lucky money. A professional acrobatic team from Cangzhou city's Wuqiao county in Hebei province, the hometown of acrobatics, will perform. On the fifth day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb 23, people usually pray to the God of Wealth for good fortune in the coming year. 

Clowns dressed up as the god, will give out red envelopes with money as a gift for visitors. More than 20 large-scale clusters of lanterns scattered throughout the area will light up the sky.

Open: Feb 19 to 25 Address: Hengdian World Studios in Dongyang city, Zhejiang province 浙江省东阳市横店影视城

Hangzhou

The Spring Festival fair on Wushan Mountain by the West Lake has a long history and is one of the largest fairs in Hangzhou. It has long been a tradition for locals to climb the mountain, enjoy opera shows and do some Chinese New Year shopping at the fair. This year, visitors will watch lion dances, stilt shows and Shanghai opera performance and write themselves a couplet for the festival.

Open: Feb 10 to 24 Address: 3 Wushan Road, Hefang Street, Shangcheng district, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province 杭州市上城区河坊街吴山路3号

Nanjing

The annual fair illuminated with bright lanterns, stretches 3 km from the Confucian Temple, and attracts many visitors every year. There will be a gourmet festival where food and snacks from Taiwan and many parts of the Chinese mainland will be available, and a competition to making festive lanterns will be held.

Open: Feb 16 to March 15 Address: Around the Confucian Temple on Zhonghua Road, Qinhuai district, Nanjing, Jiangsu province 南京市秦淮区中华路 夫子庙地区

Hong Kong

Celebrate Spring Festival in Hong Kong style. After dinner with family, you can visit the Flower Market to welcome the New Year with locals. The float parade at Tsim Sha Tsui on the Lunar New Year is the high point of the celebrations. It will be held at dawn, with 13 floats and 21 performing teams taking part. The parade is followed by firework show at Victoria Harbor at 8 pm the next day. 

On the third day, Hong Kong residents usually visit Che Kung Temple to roll the copper windmill for good luck. They later visit Sha Tin Racecourse for Chinese New Year Race Day that runs from noon to 6 pm.

Source: China Daily

from China Travel & Tourism News http://ift.tt/1iB6EFm

Put the internet to work for you.

Delete or edit this Recipe