On January 13th, a press conference on the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival was convened in Zigong. It is reported that this event themed on “Lanterns Celebrate China’s Splendor” will take place at Zigong · Chinese Lantern World on January 17th, lighting up the Bashu land and warming hundreds of thousands of households with a brand new, more glorious light display.

Upon entering the lantern festival venue, viewers will be immersed in a rich tapestry of enchanting traditional Chinese cultures. Designed on the basis of China’s prosperous scenes in a flourishing age, this year’s lantern festival showcases remarkable ingenuity, comprising 7 elaborately designed themed areas, such as “Celebration of the Spring Festival”, “Glory of China”, “Euphoric Gala”, and “Gleaming Civilizations”. At this event, traditional techniques like wire framing and binding skills will take center stage, highlighting the interplay of lantern sets of varied sizes, including 12 oversized, 7 large, and over 200 medium and small lantern sets. This marks the largest scale of the festival since its debut. Thanks to the equipment arrangement, an all-around, panoramic view of China’s vibrant, magnificent scenes will be presented.

Integrating sundry intangible cultural heritage techniques including ceramics, Sichuan opera, color painting, paper prints, and paper-cutting, this event features lantern sets made of special materials, including designs like “Festive Ambience”, “A Bumper Grain Harvest”, and “Prosperity Every Year”. Notably, the lantern set “A Bumper Grain Harvest” is created by binding together 600,000 medicine bottles, more than 10,000 ceramics, and other materials. Under the embrace of light, they transform into a dazzling display, exhibiting the delicate craftsmanship lying in Zigong lanterns. With heartfelt warmth, Zigong invites guests worldwide to appreciate its mesmerizing charm, immerse themselves in the profound Chinese culture, and share in the joyfulness and pride for China’s prosperity.

Embarking on a New, Fantastic Interactive Journey Empowered by Technology

Zigong stays committed to the enduring motto of “Abiding by Norms and Continuously Pursuing Innovation” in its development. In recent years, driven by innovation-led development, the Zigong Lantern Festival has realized iterative advancements in lantern techniques and technology, delivering an in-depth integration of technology and culture and bringing out new, fashionable, and dynamic aspects of a traditional lantern festival.

Elaborately employing AI and other cutting-edge technologies, this year’s lantern show features AI mechanical dinosaur lantern sets. In this lantern show, a “Dinosaur Warrior Team” will come on stage, leading tourists to the Jurassic era and bringing them a joyous interactive experience transcending time and space through visual recognition, multi-sensory interaction, high-precision sound positioning, and other high-tech means. Simultaneously, to cater to young “China-chic” enthusiasts, this lantern show also includes some iconic figures featured in sought-after Chinese animations and mobile games. A series of lantern sets themed around “Honor of Kings”, “Someone Ordinary with Extraordinary Feats”, and more, will captivate visitors, offering a superb sensory experience full of interaction, amusement, style, and novelty.

Not only these, “The 2nd Global Children’s Creative Work Collection for Zigong Lanterns” also breathes naivety and vitality into this lantern show. The dedicated “Creative Lanterns” section transforms the creative ideas of kids from 26 countries into vivid 3D lanterns, not only lighting up their dreams but also recapturing the simplicity and joy of childhood.

Creating a Joyful Visual Feast with Colorful Park Performances

This year, the performance mode of the Zigong Lantern Festival has been further upgraded, breaking the limitations of single-stage performances and erecting a multi-dimensional and immersive performance space.

According to the press conference, an exhibition titled “Lighting up Chinese Lanterns” to welcome the Chinese New Year through the lantern festival in the Year of the Snake will be held at the main venue of the festival. On the occasion, a “Lantern Festival Museum” exhibition area will be created for tourists nationwide, showcasing 47 intangible cultural heritage lantern works from 15 provinces and municipalities across the country. Meanwhile, supporting activities such as the intangible cultural heritage exhibition of “Exploring the Taste of the New Year”, strolling through “China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Market” while savouring delicacies, and “Enjoying Life and Celebrating the Spring Festival with Folklore” will be launched.

During the Spring Festival, with a structure combining “3+5” and “key performances + point performances”, tourists will be able to immerse themselves in a dreamland where virtuality and reality interweave, history resonates with the present, and art blends with life through diversified forms of entertainment including aerial performances, immersive interactions, and a series of situational short dramas.

When tourists get tired of viewing or strolling around, they can savor authentic Zigong cuisine without stepping out of the park. This year’s lantern festival has collaborated with renowned intangible cultural heritages and specialty brands from all over the country, presenting a copious and colorful map of the Chinese New Year’s flavors with the brilliance of “lanterns”, the culture of “the New Year”, and the excitement of “delicacies”. Nearly 100 specialty restaurants have been selected prudently from over 600 registered merchants to delight the taste buds of tourists from around the country.

Providing Considerate Services to Ensure a Convenient and Warm Journey

The experience of tourists has always been the top concern during the Zigong Lantern Festival. In terms of ticketing, this year’s lantern festival will continue to offer affordable prices. From the first to the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year, adult tickets are priced at RMB 168 each, while senior and student tickets are priced at RMB 98 each. Additionally, from January 18th to 27th and after February 13th, the listing price during the off-peak season will be implemented, with adult tickets priced at RMB 118 each and senior and student tickets priced at RMB 80 each. Furthermore, diversified options such as “Hotel+Ticket”, “Cultural and Creative Package”, and “Scenic Spot Coupon Ticket” are launched thoughtfully to meet the needs of varied tourists.

In order to enhance the tourism experience comprehensively, Zigong has made significant efforts in infrastructure and service guarantees. For instance, the newly built public transportation tourist distribution center, alongside the north gate and the square of the scenic spot, covers a total area of over 60,000 square meters, greatly improving the capacity for tourist collection and distribution. In addition, drawing support from digital technology, the upgraded mobile smart cultural and tourism service platform has integrated functions such as lantern viewing, accommodation, parking, shopping, entertainment, and transportation. Consequently, tourists can have access to services encompassing online ticket purchasing, parking guidance, scenic spot search, and accommodation and catering reservations, all through their mobile phones. Besides, with the accelerated implementation of marking through Baidu, the transportation support system around the lantern festival venue and throughout the city is continually improving. The lantern viewing tourism route has been put into operation and 10,800 parking spaces around the scenic spot are available. Moreover, 5,703 parking spaces from administrative organs of the government and public institutions are offered for free, enabling tourists to travel smoothly.

The Zigong Lantern Festival, a grand fusion of culture, technology, entertainment, and delicacies, is about to grandly kick off. We sincerely invite friends from all walks of life to journey to the city of salt and join us in this romantic date with light and shadows, the past and present, and technology and culture, as we usher in the Year of the Snake!