by
wenhousecrafts.com
7 March 2007秦淮灯火甲天下
Lantern Festival
2007
If Chinese New Year’s
Eve
is the moment of firecrackers, then first full
moon night is the time for lanterns (三十的火，十五的灯). The lantern
festival of the Pig Year is on 22 February, by
then Chinese communities lighted lanterns all
over the world. But nowhere on the planet the
lanterns lighted more brilliant than that in
China, and nowhere in China the lantern show
is more magnificent than that in Nanjing, the capital of six
ancient dynasties (六朝古都), and the initial
dragon seat of the Great Ming (大明王朝).
The earliest lantern festival
in Nanjing can trace back to third century,
but it is during the Ming era that the
lantern show became the number one spectacle
in the Middle Kingdom, thus the saying of 秦淮灯火甲天下, meaning the lantern
show along the Qinghuai River is the best
under Heaven, became widely known.
For many people in China,
without a lantern show (元宵灯会) to conclude the
event, the Chinese New Year festival is
incomplete; to many people in Nanjing,
without going to the Confucian Temple (夫子庙) to watch lanterns, the
lantern festival is just a sham.
So they went, in the number of
nearly half million, to the temple that had
nearly half million square metres of space
decorated with nearly half million of
lanterns.
Long before the sun abdicated
its celestial throne to the moon, around and
within the Confucian Temple, along and on the
Qinhuai River (秦淮河) near by, the
streams of lights had already come into being
like the Milky Way collapsed onto Earth.
Qinhua
River on the night of Lantern Festival
Across the Archway of
Literature Centre (天下文枢牌坊) and the Bridge of
Scholarly Virtue (文德桥) and the Hall of
Great Accomplishment (大成殿), the enlightened culture of Confucius was honoured in the
theme lanterns of Confucian Touring the
States (孔子周游列国).
In the waterway of Qinhuai
where the old-fashioned terrace boats adorned
with lamps spread vari-coloured sails, the
magnificent wild landscape was appreciated in
the theme lanterns of Lilies in the River (荷照秦淮), of Dragons Playing Beads (双龙戏珠), of Music of the Flow (秦淮流韵).
Around the Gateway of China (中华门),the brilliant civilisation
of the Ming Dynasty was reflected in the
themed lanterns of First Ming Emperor
Exploring the Qinhuai (朱元璋游秦淮), of First Scholar Parading His Awards (状元巡游).
Lanterns
in Nanjing
And more lanterns, everywhere,
in the shapes of water lily (荷花灯), of rabbit (兔子灯), of orchard (兰花灯), of lion (狮子灯), of airplane, with the help
from the high tech of neo lights, of laser
beams, of audio effects; the visitors were
walking by the lanterns, through the
lanterns, under the lanterns. And that was
the party of the light on the first full moon
night in the ancient city that has the glory
of the past which will never fade.
| |
|
| |
|
A Suzhou lady walking
under street lanterns
|
Suzhou, a
city near Nanjing, is traditionally
viewed as having a delicate scholarly
culture scented with a sweet female
flavour; and this female aroma is
particularly apparent during the lantern
festival, the biggest
Valentines
Day in Chinese calendar.
Tang Ying (唐寅), a Suzhou poet of
Ming Dynast, had a famous line
depicting the night with the
lanterns:
春到人间人似玉，
灯烧月下月如银。
When
spring arrived the land
transformed
The ladies were prettier as if
jade-made
The
Lanterns lit under the moonlight
The moon glowed like a silver
pendant
|
More verses
about the Lanern Festivals in ancient
times:
今夜可怜春，
河桥多丽人。
So many
beauties along the rivers
On the tender night of the
lanterns.
月上柳梢头，
人约黃昏后。
At the
time of dusk
When the moon at the willow tip
We shall meet
As we expect
Yuanxiao
with sweet sesame filling
Of course, no
Chinese festival would be regarded as
complete without its special theme food,
and there can be no exception with the
Lantern Festival. The soup of sticky rice
balls typically stuffed with sweet sesame
filling called yuanxiao (元宵) or tangyuan (汤圆) are commonly
consumed on the occasion.
Pre: Your Luck
in 2007 - Snake | Next: Luck in
2007 - Horse
More Related:
|
Culture of
China
Places in
China
People in
China
China at a
Glance
Fengshui
Mysticism
Martial
Arts
Chinese
Dishes
|
