Chen Siqi

vankochensq@163.com

CELEBRATIONS for the Lantern Festival, which fell on Saturday this year, in Shenzhen took various forms such as lantern shows, intangible cultural heritage fairs, Yingge dance performances, and folk cultural shows.

The Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first month on the Chinese lunar calendar, marks the end of Spring Festival celebrations. The festival features family reunions, feasts, lantern displays, and various cultural activities. The vivid celebrations in Shenzhen united locals and expats in spirited revelry.

Community event

With children riding on their parents’ shoulders and people holding their phones above their heads to shoot photos and videos, the Xiasha Poon Choi Feast began with a splendid dragon dance in Xiasha Cultural Square, in  Xiasha Village, Futian District, on Saturday.

The Xiasha feast, listed as a provincial-level cultural intangible heritage in 2009, is the traditional way Xiasha natives celebrate the Lantern Festival.

Over 10,000 people sat at more than 1,000 tables to share poon choi, also known as the basin feast, while watching splendid dragon dances, lion dances, and other folk performances.

The banquet’s opening dragon dance was performed by a team of over 200 Xiasha natives.

The beautifully choreographed dance featured a 108-meter-long dragon, evoking a sense of marvel in the audience and bestowing blessings upon them. The drum beats motivated the crowd and ignited their emotions.

In addition to the dragon dance, there were a splendid kylin dance by a Bantian team from Longgang, a Pixiu dance by a team from Hong Kong, and other folk performances that received thunderous applause and cheers from the audience.

“The is my first time taking part in this event. It is marvelous. There are so many traditional performances. I enjoy them a lot,” a resident surnamed Liao said.

A woman surnamed Huang, a resident of Xiasha Village, shared her deep connection to the tradition.

“Despite marrying outside Xiasha, I have returned for the celebration almost every year,” she told Shenzhen Daily. “These are all our sisters, and this gathering provides a good opportunity for us to reconnect. We cherish this tradition and hope it will endure.”

(Continued on P2; more photos on P4)