Lantern shows light up Shanghai, Tianjin ahead of Spring Festival

The Chinese metropolises of Shanghai and Tianjin have put on lantern shows in their respective popular tourist sites, adding to the festivities of the Spring Festival which falls on Wednesday.

In Shanghai's Yuyuan Garden, a historic commercial and tourist destination, thousands of lanterns have lit up the night, drawing crowds despite a recent cold snap.

The annual Yuyuan Garden Lantern Show, a must-see event for locals and tourists alike, offers visitors the chance to admire intricate displays, explore lively markets, and savor traditional Chinese snacks.

The 40-day event, which kicked off on Sunday, features a huge collection of snake lanterns to herald the Year of the Snake.

This year marks the 29th edition of the show, which was inscribed on the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2008.

This year's highlight is a 9-meter-tall golden snake lantern, surrounded by a lush jungle of exotic flowers and plants.

In addition to lantern displays, visitors can wander through the Spring Festival market, where they can purchase everything from traditional Spring Festival couplets and lanterns to creative products inspired by the Year of the Snake.

After taking in the lantern displays and markets, visitors can savor authentic Shanghai cuisine at Yuyuan Garden.

Elsewhere, in Yangliuqing Ancient Town of north China's Tianjin Municipality, a similar lantern festival is enchanting visitors with a blend of local history and cultural elements, including Yangliuqing New Year woodblock prints and paper-cutting.

The festival, now in its 28th year, features over 40 lantern displays spread across four themed areas.

This year's event, which began on Jan 22, will go on for 22 days, offering a variety of designs and artistic themes.

To elevate visitor experience, the town has undergone renovations, including updates to its streets, courtyards, and shops, to create a more immersive festive atmosphere.

The Spring Festival market in the town also offers local crafts, such as Yangliuqing paper cuttings, lanterns, and New Year woodblock prints, along with regional specialties like Yangliuqing tea soup and cooked pear cakes.

Lantern shows light up Shanghai, Tianjin ahead of Spring Festival

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.

Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.

Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.

"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.

The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.

Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar