Lantern Festival gala to be staged on Sunday

The annual Lantern Festival Gala will be broadcasted at 8pm on Sunday by China Central Television, a news conference in Beijing announced on Friday.

Falling on the 15th day of the first lunar month - Sunday this year - the Lantern Festival marks end of Spring Festival. It features traditions like festive lantern decorations and eating yuanxiao, glutinous rice balls.

Through various performances like folk songs, operas and rhythmic gymnastics, the gala aims to show features of this traditional festival, and create an auspicious atmosphere.

A highlight of the gala is the display of various festive lantern decorations. Traditionally, decorating streets with lanterns and producing a lantern show is a custom of the festival, symbolizing people's eagerness for a better future. Now, festive lantern decorations have been listed as national-level intangible cultural heritage.

Lantern styles from different places of China, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces and Beijing will join the performance, along with the live-action videos of lantern shows in many places of China.

Following the annual Spring Festival Gala held on Jan 21, the gala this time will be presented with new technology to ensure good visual and audio effects as well. People can also watch the gala on big screens in about 500 squares across the country.