C China’s Luoyang offers cultural feast during Chinese New Year holiday

For this year’s Chinese New Year holiday, Luoyang city in central China’s Henan Province, has offered a diverse range of cultural ceremonies to celebrate the New Year, resulting in the number of tourists in attraction sites skyrocketing.

Luoyang is one of the historical capitals of China, and was the capital of 13 Chinese dynasties. The city has left substantial cultural and historical legacies to the country. For this year’s Spring Festival celebration, the city has showered tourists with unforgettable cultural treats.

Visitors crowd an ancient city in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. (People’s Daily Online/Zhang Guanghui)

Themed activities give visitors diverse holiday experience

On Jan. 22, the city unleashed a kaleidoscope of fireworks, giving tourists a magnificent visual feast. “The fireworks were so splendid and amazing! I am deeply touched by the New Year celebrations. The tour in Luoyang has been so worthwhile!” said Ma Yanjun, a tourist from the neighboring city of Zhengzhou.

Tourists watch fireworks in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. (People’s Daily Online/Dong Gefei)

Many citizens chose to visit museums as their way of celebrating the New Year, as several museums in the city had put on special exhibitions. Museums in Luoyang City registered over half a million entries during the Spring Festival holiday.

Folklore culture is an indispensable part of the New Year celebrations. This year, Luoyang offered a series of temple fairs, lantern festivals, and themed park sightseeing for visitors to revel in the pomp of these traditions.

Actors perform datiehua, also known as molten iron splashing, in a temple fair in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. (People’s Daily Online/Zhang Guanghui)

Luanchuan county in Luoyang organized a lantern festival themed on intangible cultural heritages. Celebrations with elements of intangible cultural heritages took place from the Chinese New Year to the 16th day of the first lunar month.

Visitors also had access to traditional Spring Festival folklore ceremonies. The B&Bs inside Chongdugou Scenic Area in Luanchuan county arranged Spring Festival couplet writing activities, lantern hanging, making dumplings, and a New Year’s Eve dinner, the most important meal for Chinese in the year.

Tourists flock to the Longmen Grottoes, a World Cultural Heritage site in Luoyang, central China's Henan Province, over the Spring Festival holiday. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Yixi)

Imperial hospitality from ancient capital of China

In the Sui and Tang Dynasties Luoyang City National Heritage Park, the replica of China’s capital from the 7th to 10th century, traditional arts fetes, fashions and modes of living brought visitors back to experience how life was lived over 1,300 years ago. Visitors were able to enjoy an immersive experience of receiving food from an actress playing China’s only female Emperor, Wu Zetian, enjoy imperial music and dances, regale in imperial gastronomy, and watch the peonies blossom.

“After changing into the ancient-style costumes, I feel like I have travelled back in time. It is absolutely wonderful to experience the history and culture of the Tang Dynasty in such an immersive fashion,” said Mr. Zhou, a tourist who had just taken part in a cultural activity.

“The parking lots are packed with vehicles mainly from Shanxi, Jiangsu, Guangdong provinces and Tianjin Municipality,” said a staff member, as the park welcomed over 200,000 visitors during the seven-day break, a huge increase compared with last year. 

The Sui and Tang Dynasties Luoyang City National Heritage Park in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province, is illuminated. (People’s Daily Online/Zhang Xian)

Chinese New Year celebrations in literature

Several institutions organized literary events. Luoyang’s public libraries and bookstores organized an activity titled “This book is on us”, in which customers could rent brand new books from bookstores and later return them to public libraries or book houses.

Luoyang Library held a “Classic Recitation” event from Chinese New Year to Lantern Festival. In the event, Henan Yu Opera, children dramas, and musical performances were staged to provide readers a diverse cultural experience.

Luoyang Library holds the “Classic Recitation” event in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. (People’s Daily Online/Li Bing)

“Kids, do you know what the origins of Spring Festival are? What are its traditions?” Luoyang Children’s Library offers a spiritual experience to enlighten children on the meaning of Chinese New Year.

A citizen shows her Chinese paper cutting work in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. (People’s Daily Online/Li Weichao)