Dragon dancers perform at the annual "She Huo" Festival in Jinzhong, Shanxi Province, Feb. 6, 2012. [Photo: China.org.cn]

Across China, communities celebrate Yuan Xiao Jie [Lantern Festival], the end of the lunar New Year holiday, by hanging colorful lanterns on houses and lampposts, setting off fireworks, and eating tangyuan [sweet rice dumplings]. Few places, however, send the New Year off with as big a bang as Jinzhong, in eastern Shanxi Province.

Throughout the year Jinzhong is mostly known for its coal mining industry and production of certain agricultural products, but during the Lantern Festival the prefecture-level city with roughly 3.3 million inhabitants (530,000 in the urban district of Yuci) comes together for She Huo Jie ["Community Fire" Festival], a spectacular New Year sendoff that is steeped in tradition.

Over 30,000 performers from around the province paraded into Jinzhong's city center Yuci District to stage 15 distinct traditional performances for an audience of thousands as well as local community leaders and guests. Many of the traditional acts performed here have a history going back as far as 2,500 years.

传统的元宵节是农历春节的尾声，过了正月十五，春节就算接近了尾声。举国上下都张灯结彩，放炮竹，吃元宵，欢度这春节的最后一天。山西晋中的元宵活动格外热闹，轰轰烈烈，欢腾声中送春节。

晋中一直以其煤炭开采业和特色农产品闻名于世。在元宵节之际，这个拥有约330万居民（其中53万为城镇居民）的县级城市熙熙攘攘，人们欢聚在这里共度“社火节”。“社火节”是当地传统习俗中送别春节的别开生面的仪式。

3万多名来自省内各地的演员来到位于晋中市中心的榆次区，为当地数以千计的观众、领导及嘉宾，献上15个风格各异的传统表演。这些传统节目的历史大多可追溯到2500年之前。