Qinhuai Lantern Fair, also known as Jinling Lantern Fair, Jinling Lantern Festival, and officially named Lantern Fair on Qinhuai River, is a popular folk custom celebration of the Lantern Festival in the Nanjing area. Modern usage refers to the large-scale fair held yearly at the Confucius Temple of Nanjing between Spring Festival and Lantern Festival. There has been 25 fairs held up to date, and it is one of the most famous celebration of Lantern Festival in China. On the day of Lantern Festival, the fair reaches its climax. An old Nanjing saying, "Without enjoying lanterns in the Confucius Temple, you haven't spent the Nian (the Lunar New Year); without having a lantern of the Confucius Temple, you haven't had a good Nian." demonstrates the popularity of this fair. On June 2, 2006, the fair was named as one of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of China by the government of People's Republic of China The most recent lantern festival took place on February 17, 2011.
Famous quotes containing the words lantern and/or fair:
“God shall be my hope,
My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“This fair homestead has fallen to us, and how little have we done to improve it, how little have we cleared and hedged and ditched! We are too inclined to go hence to a “better land,” without lifting a finger, as our farmers are moving to the Ohio soil; but would it not be more heroic and faithful to till and redeem this New England soil of the world?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)