Vivid lanterns combining traditional Chinese cultural elements and modern technology have been set up in Zigong of southwest China's Sichuan Province as the city gears up to host its long-running Spring Festival lantern show.
The 31st International Dinosaur Lantern Show will officially open to the public on Friday, according to organizers, giving visitors the chance to marvel at the dazzling displays.
The event comes as part of celebrations for the Spring Festival, the most important annual festivity in China which centers around the Chinese Lunar New Year, which this year falls on Jan 29, ushering in the Year of the Snake.
This year's show promises to be one of the best ever, boasting over a dozen giant lanterns and numerous large-scale displays which are sure to impress residents and tourists alike, while well over 200 smaller-sized lanterns featuring various intangible cultural heritage elements and modern lighting technologies are also included.
"This year, we will present the intangible cultural heritage elements in the lantern show in a brand new look. The ancient folk culture, classic artistic symbols and modern lighting technology will be integrated together. We'll create a visual feast with rich historical and cultural elements for visitors," said Chen Jinhong, director of the bureau of culture, radio, television and tourism of Zigong City.
According to the organizers, this year, the event will also incorporate intangible cultural heritage skills such as porcelain, Sichuan Opera, blow molding, and paper cutting, and launch lantern sets rich in Chinese traditional festive blessings.
The national-level intangible cultural heritage project, Zigong lantern show, boasts a long history. It can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties.
Int'l lantern show in Sichuan ready to welcome Spring Festival
Micro-dramas born in China are now taking the U.S. market by storm, and according to a popular American actor, the U.S. film and television industry is looking to copy China's playbook to replicate the commercial success of its vertical-screen short dramas.
Matt William Knowles is the first non-Asian to graduate in acting from the Beijing Film Academy and has starred in multiple hit Chinese TV dramas, including "Red Sorghum" and "Eastern Battlefield". Now, as he has become the face of America's vertical micro-drama boom, he said the experience feels nothing short of surreal.
"I didn't expect that the vertical series would be a thing several years ago, and now they've popped up and grown so fast," said Knowles.
In his view, vertical micro-dramas have long ceased to be a niche phenomenon. In the U.S., they've already built a huge and fast-growing audience.
"I think a couple of years ago, there was a smaller market or type of person who was watching this series, and now there are more and more people who are watching. I had a friend who said he was on a construction site recently, and there were a bunch of construction workers, and they were all watching a vertical series together," he said.
As an insider, Knowles has observed a notable shift in the U.S. film and television industry in recent years: a growing trend of looking to China for inspiration. Backed by hard market data, the once-supreme Hollywood is now filled with professionals eager to decode the business secrets behind China's micro-drama success.
"Several years ago, China was usually bringing over talent from Hollywood to China to learn from them. But now you have this interesting thing that's happening with vertical series, where vertical series started in China. And now people in America are trying to figure out: how can we copy this thing and make money off it? I think a lot of people are studying what's going on in China," he said.
Hollywood taking notes from China's micro-drama playbook: U.S. actor
