The 38th Qinhuai Lantern Festival Lights Up China

On the evening of February 2, the 2024 “Light Up China” event, the 38th annual China Qinhuai Lantern Festival lighting ceremony,     1    (begin) at the Bailuzhou Park in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The Qinhuai Lantern Festival,     2     is also known as the “Jinling Lantern Festival”, is a folk cultural activity spread in Nanjing in history. It is usually held during the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival every year. It is the most famous lantern festival in China and it is included in the national intangible cultural heritage list.

With the Bailuzhou Park, the Confucius Temple Scenic Area and the Laomendong District serving     3     main display venues, this year’s Qinhuai Lantern Fair has set up 7 exhibition areas with 330 lantern installations.

    4    (compare) to previous years’ lantern festivals, one of the major highlights this year is the remarkable “the Year of the Dragon” theme. For instance, at the front of the Linxing Gate of the Confucius Temple in Nanjing, the lantern display features twin dragons winding around pillars, blowing out dragon pearls, symbolizing auspiciousness (吉祥) and reunion. Meanwhile, the Bailuzhou Park takes     5    (inspire) from the “Illustration of Lanterns in the Shangyuan Festival” as its creative theme, showing     6     total of 68 sets of lanterns in various sizes and forms, recreating the splendid scene of observing lanterns during the Ming dynasty as described in the ancient artworks.

The Lantern Festival in Nanjing this year not only celebrates the traditional customs of the Lunar New Year but also highlights the city’s cultural heritage and     7    (innovation) spirit, drawing visitors from across the nation     8    (participate) in the joyous celebrations.

A local elderly person said to a news reporter     9    (proud), “It has the reputation of No. 1 Lantern Festival in the world and the Qinhuai Lantern Festival     10    (be) the best in the world. It is the only large-scale comprehensive lantern festival in China that integrates lantern exhibitions, lantern festivals and lantern markets.”

Oil paper umbrellas have a history of over 1,000 years in China. Once they     1     （be）everywhere. Nowadays people use the hand-made umbrellas     2     （little）in daily life than before. However, they are a symbol of Chinese     3     （tradition）culture.

Yuhang in Hangzhou is known for     4     （make）oil paper umbrellas for over 230 years. Umbrellas here take more than 70 steps to make, such as making bamboo ribs and pasting（糊）paper.     5     takes at least a week to make an umbrella. In 2007, this kind of umbrella was added to Zhejiang province's intangible（无形的）cultural heritage（遗产）list.

In 2015, Liu Weixue left a well-paid job to learn     6     his grandfather the art. "I want to bring the art to life," Liu said. "When it rains, someone uses the umbrella, that's     7     I want to see.”

After Liu mastered the skills, a studio     8     （start）in Yuhang, where he gathered umbrella-making masters.     9     （sell）umbrellas, Liu opened an online shop in 2017. It now has more than 80,000 followers.

Liu hopes the art can be passed on. He goes to schools in Yuhang to teach students. He also shows up at     10     （event）and activities in different places to show more people about the art.