Ahead of the annual session of China's legislature which will commence on Thursday, Huang Xihua, deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) and director of the Huizhou Municipal Tourism Bureau, proposed declaring Lantern Festival a national holiday to promote Chinese festive traditions.

She said, "The Lantern Festival is one of the five Chinese traditional festivals, which include the Spring Festival, but it has not been designated as a national holiday."

The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the first month of the traditional Chinese calendar, marking the end of the New Year holiday.

Huang deemed the Spring Festival a festival for family reunions, and the Lantern Festival a festival for happiness.

She added that if the Lantern Festival could be adopted as a national holiday, it would stimulate consumption.

Zhang Lihui, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), also suggested that the Lantern Festival be designated a national holiday, saying that such an arrangement would better promote Chinese culture, and demonstrate the improvement of the national economy and people's lives.

This year's Spring Festival has been celebrated across the Chinese communities in the world, with the New York State in the United States declaring the first day of the Spring Festival as a national holiday for the first time.

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