Lanterns mark end of the holiday
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E-mail Xinhua, February 25, 2013
China celebrated the Lantern Festival with fireworks and food yesterday, as millions of migrant workers flowed back to cities and smog blanketed a large part of the country.
The festival formally marks the end of celebrations for the Chinese Lunar New Year, 15 days after it began.
The Ministry of Railways estimated that around 6.4 million people would have made train journeys yesterday.
Many of China's migrant workers living in rural areas delay their return to work beyond the official public holiday, which only lasts a week.
Yesterday, air pollution in Beijing reached hazardous levels due to increased traffic and the fireworks, China Central Television reported. Officials in the capital were urging people to limit the number of fireworks they set off.
As of 7pm, air quality was heavily to severely polluted, the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Center said.
Beijing has banned fireworks in its urban area, only allowing residents to let off them from the eve of the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival.
At 4pm, the city's weather forecasters issued a smog alert, predicting visibility of less than 3,000 meters over the next 12 hours. There were also smog alerts issued for central and eastern parts of the country.
In Shanghai, worshippers thronged Buddhist temples, burning incense and tossing coins into giant urns to make wishes for the coming year.
Shoppers snapped up dumplings made from glutinous rice with sweet or savory fillings, called tang yuan in Shanghai, traditionally eaten on the holiday.
"The pork ones sold out early. We can't make enough," said a clerk at a branch of dumpling chain Wangjiasha, offering crab meat or sweet sesame paste alternatives.
Outside Beijing in Yuxian, a rural part of Hebei Province, residents marked the festival by holding a parade with a dragon dance and releasing red paper lanterns like small hot-air balloons into the sky.
Livelier than Beijing
In the thousand-year-old Pingyao Town in north China's Shanxi Province, people hung lanterns above front doors and set off fireworks.
"We traveled from Beijing to Pingyao, and experienced different atmospheres of Lantern Festival celebrations. Pingyao is livelier," said Sarah Brown, an Australian tourist.
School pupil Zheng Rui enjoyed the traditional performances.
"My teacher told me to keep writing a diary during the winter vacation. I watched the performances so I can write about them. The journey will be worthwhile with impressive memories," Zheng said.
Besides eating yuanxiao, a sweetened dumpling made of glutinous rice flour and stuffed with meat, nuts, fruit or sugar, Zheng, his parents and relatives enjoyed a variety of performances put on by the town, including dragon lantern dances, lion dances, stilt-walking and Pingyao operas.
In northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Library prepared more than 1,000 Chinese puzzles and 300 puzzles for residents.
There were many charity performances in Xinjiang and a bazaar to help disabled people and people in need.
In central China's Henan Province, to reduce air pollution and avoid smog, cities and districts of Zhengzhou, Jiyuan, Zhoukou, Zhumadian and Sanmenxia canceled fireworks displays.
The government of Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, held cultural performances, intangible cultural heritage and large-scale lamp exhibitions in the city's parks.
"It's worthwhile giving up fireworks for fresh air, and I believe citizens understand," said Wang Dezhi, a Zhengzhou resident.
In northeastern Jilin Province, some firework sellers said they faced a quiet festival since people were refusing to buy their products.
"I only sold 100 yuan worth of fireworks today. I bought 50,000 yuan worth of fireworks this year, but there are still more than 5,000 yuan worth to sell," said Wang Li.
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