The illuminated lantern holiday includes displays of huge replicas of world famous landmarks. [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

The Global Winter Wonderland, a spectacular lantern festival and multicultural celebration, is being held in California’s capital, Sacramento, at Cal Expo from Nov 22 to Jan 5, 2015, which also marks the beginning of Happy Chinese New Year celebrations in California. During the festival, a series of China culture theme days will be held.

Bi Gang, deputy consul general of China in San Francisco, attended the opening ceremony of the lantern festival and delivered a speech. He said the Global Winter Wonderland, based on the Chinese Lantern Festival, not only brought entertainment to Americans, but also help them to know more about Chinese culture. It bridged the two peoples and promoted cultural exchanges.

The lantern festival features 80 groups of giant lanterns made by Chinese lantern artists, showcasing large replicas of the world’s famous landmarks. A Chinese culture pavilion and a three-day China Days activity added more color to the lights holiday. The holiday festival also features Chinese performances art, Chinese painting and an intangible culture heritage exhibition.