The Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, which began in the Western Han Dynasty more than 2000 years ago. According to legend, the Han Emperor to celebrate the victory of an important battle. On this evening of every year, he will be out of the palace to play, have fun with the citizens.

Chinese people have many celebrations, different places have different customs. But the essential thing is to eat dumplings and watch the Lantern show. Some local people will go out to celebrate, lantern riddles, fireworks, acrobatics and other held.

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This is dumpling which called “Yuan Xiao” or “Tang Yuan”. People in the north of China call it “Tang Yuan”. People in the south of China call it “Yuan Xiao”.  “Tang Yuan” is a dessert made of glutinous rice and stuffing. The traditional stuffing is black sesame, which tastes very delicious and fragrant. However southerners like to make “Yuan Xiao” with meat as fillings.

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We’ll have lamps like this. People usually bring their old people and their children together to watch it at night. The lights are various in shape, some of the traditional Chinese things, like dragons, carp, lotus, boats…