Colorful lanterns are lighting¹ up China’s night sky, as activities begin across the country to celebrate Lantern Festival today.

多彩的灯笼照亮中国的半边天，今日，全国各地已经开始庆祝元宵节。

In Quanzhou city, southeast China’s Fujian Province, the lantern shows began on Thursday night. Xinmen Street was decorated by 805 traditional hand-made lanterns embroidered² with beautiful patterns.

在中国东南部福建省的泉州市，灯笼秀在周四晚上就开始了。新门街上装点了805个图案各异的手工灯笼。

“While enjoying the shows, some people walk around with a small lantern in hand, making the atmosphere especially festive,” Mai Binbin, a local resident, said.

当地市民马彬彬说：“很多人一边看灯，一边手里拿着小灯笼，非常有过节氛围。”

At the Confucius Temple, a tourist spot in Nanjing city, in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, tens of thousands of colorful lanterns for a grand lantern show are creating a sea of lights to attract tourists.

在华东的江苏省，南京的旅游景点孔庙，举行了宏大的灯笼秀，元宵灯笼的海洋吸引了大批游客前来观赏。

Local resident Mao Mingjuan took her son to the temple to watch the lanterns on Thursday evening, saying she hoped her son would now better understand the history of the festival and the temple.

当地市民茂明娟周四晚上带着儿子来看灯，她说希望通过这样的活动，让儿子理解元宵节和孔庙的文化历史。

Dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25), the Lantern Festival is held on the 15th day of the first lunar month to mark the first full moon of the lunar new year.

元宵节始于西汉（公元前206年-公元25年），与每年正月十五月圆时举行。

You Guoqing, a folk custom expert in Tianjin Municipality, said the Lantern Festival was about going out for a colorful celebration rather than a family get together.

天津市民俗研究专家由国庆说，元宵节并不是家庭聚会，而是出门看展。

Besides watching lanterns, it is also a day to appreciate the full moon, solve lantern riddles³, watch art performances and eat tang yuan, dumpling balls made of glutinous⁴ rice, usually with sweet fillings.

除了看灯，元宵节也是赏月、猜灯谜、看艺术表演、吃汤圆/元宵的好时候。

The festival was once also a time for romantic encounters. In feudal⁵ times, young women were not allowed to go out freely, but Lantern Festival was an exception, when young men and women could meet up.

元宵节也曾是恋人相聚的时候。在封建时期，年轻女子不能随便出门，但元宵节可以出门看灯，这也就成为青年男女相会的好时机。

Some aspects of the festival, such as its romantic atmosphere, are fading, but people still see the Lantern Festival as a day to rejoice and a chance to wish for happiness.

虽然元宵节的一些元素（比如浪漫气息）已经渐渐淡化，但人们仍然把它当做庆祝、祈福的节日。

Childhood memories of Lantern Festival are still vivid for Yu Le’an, an elderly man from Changsha, capital of central China’s Hunan Province.

余乐安是湖南省会长沙的一位老人，对他来说童年的元宵节记忆犹新。

“It would be a time when we could have new clothes and good things to eat,” he said.

他说：“每到元宵节，我们就有新衣服穿、有好吃的可以吃。”

The Lantern Festival is a now a mixture of the traditional and modern.

当代元宵节已经成为传统和现代的结合。

The workshop of lantern craftsman⁶ Lu Xiezhuang in Shanghai is especially busy, as flocks of people visit to appreciate and buy his lanterns on the eve of the festival.

上海手艺人鲁谢庄的工作室最近非常忙碌，因为在元宵节前夜有很多人前来赏灯、买灯笼。

Lu, 63, is glad to see people’s love for the lanterns, but she believes that there is still much to do to ensure the traditional craftsmanship⁷ survives.

鲁谢庄今年63岁，她看到人们对灯笼的热爱感到非常新闻。但她认为，要想让这门传统手工艺流传下去，还需要付出很多努力。

She says “innovation” is key to keep the ancient art alive, and has been exploring the creation of lanterns of different patterns and colors catering⁸ for modern day aesthetics⁹.

她说，“创新”是让这一传统艺术活下去的关键。并且她一直在探索和创造现代审美下不同图案、不同样式的灯笼。