A spectacular lantern show at Wenyu River Park has added to festive vibes in Beijing as the city now enters a joyous period of celebrations for both New Year's Day and the upcoming Spring Festival.
Spanning 40 hectares, the 2025 Beijing Megalights Wonderland features more than 1,000 illuminated installations across eight themed areas, offering visitors a feast for the senses and plenty of surprises around every corner.
From traditional Chinese motifs to playful characters, the dazzling display seamlessly blends cutting-edge technology with time-honored customs.
In Chinese culture, lanterns symbolize light, happiness, and the dispelling of bad luck. At this park on the city's outskirts, over 1,000 stunning lantern artworks are on display, ranging from intricate designs to towering, eye-catching structures.
Visitors are transported into a dreamlike world of divine beasts, fairylands, and traditional Chinese architecture, with each scene drawing inspiration from famous stories and myths. "I think it's really great. The atmosphere is wonderful, very suitable for a family outing," said a female visitor.
"Visiting the lantern show at the beginning of the New Year, I wish our motherland prosperity and strength," said another visitor.
The show is particularly popular with families, especially those with young children.
"We hope our child can gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture. She also really likes wearing traditional Hanfu clothing," one parent shared.
Thanks to modern technologies like holographic projection, visitors can embark on an immersive journey from ancient China to space and beyond.
The lanterns on display are handcrafted in Zigong, a city in southwest China's Sichuan Province, renowned for its lantern-making tradition -- a recognized form of intangible cultural heritage.
"These lanterns are all welded by hand. For example, this large-scale Wukong lantern has over 10,000 welding points. We can also program the light strips to achieve the effect of changing lights, making it more futuristic," said Shu Xin, project manager of Beijing Shiguang Tourism.
As the winter festivities continue, the lantern show remains a hit across the country and is set to run until March.
Lantern show illuminates Beijing with traditional, innovative elements
Business activity in the UK has slowed to a six-month low in March with cost pressures surging sharply, as escalating tensions in the Middle East have weighed on demand and disrupted supply chains, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.
The S and P Global Flash UK Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 51.0 in March from 53.7 in February, signaling only marginal expansion in private sector output.
The slowdown was broad-based. The services activity index dropped to 51.2 from 53.9, while manufacturing output edged down to 50.1 from 52.5, close to stagnation. A reading above 50 indicates growth, while a reading below that reflects contraction. The headline manufacturing PMI came in at 51.4, a three-month low.
Survey data showed that new business declined for the first time in four months, reflecting weaker confidence among firms and consumers. Companies widely linked the deterioration in demand to the Middle East conflict, citing heightened uncertainty, rising prices and more cautious spending.
At the same time, cost pressures intensified markedly. Input price inflation rose to its highest level in more than three years, driven by higher fuel, transportation and raw material costs. Manufacturing firms reported the sharpest increase in input costs since October 2022, with the pace of acceleration the strongest in decades.
Rising costs were increasingly passed on to customers, leading to the fastest increase in output prices since April 2025. The combination of slowing growth and rising prices points to mounting inflationary pressure across the economy.
External demand also weakened. Export orders declined, particularly in the services sector, amid reduced international travel and delays to projects linked to the Middle East. Meanwhile, supply disruptions, including longer shipping routes and production stoppages in energy-related industries, led to extended delivery time and lower inventories.
Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S and P Global Market Intelligence, said the Middle East conflict has "stalled growth while driving inflation sharply higher," as firms face weaker demand alongside rising energy and supply chain costs.
He added that the Bank of England now faces a difficult trade-off between containing inflation and avoiding further damage to growth, warning that "downside risks to growth and upside risks to inflation have already materialized."
The flash PMI survey, conducted between March 12 and 20, provides an early snapshot of economic conditions and is closely watched by markets and policymakers.
UK business growth hits six-month low as Middle East tensions drive up costs
