By the Sui Dynasty, the custom to hold a lantern show on the night of the 15th of the 1st lunar month had evolved into a legal traditional festival – Lantern Festival, which was celebrated with specific rituals in fixed time every year.
On the night of the 15ht of the 1st lunar month, there was a sea of various fascinating lanterns accompanied by wonderful displays of fireworks in the sky. The whole country celebrated the festival with diversified traditional performance like dances, local operas, and acrobatics. Being favored by people, the festival has been developing with great vitality. The celebration grew increasingly grand; The lanterns became increasingly delicate. More and more entertainments were added up to the festival, and more and more prosperous the trade during the festivals became. Even the lantern show itself was continually becoming longer.
In the socialist new China, the lantern show of Lantern Festival has been bestowed with new meaning, and exhibited its new features and attractions on either side of the Great Wall, all over the country.
