Red lanterns light up C China’s Wuhan with festive atmosphere

More than 20,000 sets of red lanterns are put up to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province. (Photo/People’s Daily Online)

With the Chinese Lunar New Year around the corner, the Yangtze River Bridge is crowded with vehicles and lined with red lanterns, bringing a festive atmosphere to Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province.

The Wuhan urban management commission recently launched a citywide landscape installation campaign for the upcoming Spring Festival. More than 21,500 sets of red lanterns and Chinese knots have been put up as decorations along 169 sections of the city’s main roads, business complexes, and characteristic streets, and will remain there until Feb. 6, 2023.

These installations create an attractive cityscape, sending best wishes for the new year to residents.

There are four styles of landscape lighting up this year’s Spring Festival - red lanterns, Chinese knots, the Chinese character “chun”, or “spring” in English, and Chinese characters for “beautiful China”. Areas with these lanterns can be grouped into three types, according to an official from the Wuhan urban management commission.

The first type covers the city’s main roads, including some bridges, and “window spots”, such as railway stations, where lanterns are hung on both sides of the roads in a triad. The installations are arranged in a consistent fashion on cross-district roads and bridges.

The second is located near characteristic business streets, where lanterns in the shapes of Chinese knots and the character “chun” are put up. The last type refers to gates of some institutions and local residential communities, where one lantern is placed on each side of the gate.