A series of vibrant cultural festivities, from intangible cultural heritage-themed traditional dragon lantern parades to spectacular firework displays, drawing crowds of visitors to cities in central China's Hunan Province during the official nine-day Spring Festival holiday.
In Cili County of the well-known resort city of Zhangjiajie, the traditional "Banban Dragon Lantern Performance," a distinctive folk dragon dance, would make a stunning appearance through coordinated land and water parades after night falls during the holiday season, creating a lively and immersive festive atmosphere.
"It brings a sense of joy and auspicious New Year spirit, and also gives all of us and our friends a feeling of being back at home," said tourist Lu Junchun.
The "Banban Dragon Lantern Performance" is a traditional dragon dance form in Cili County and a national-level intangible cultural heritage item. The activity expresses the people's joy for peace and prosperity and their desire for good harvests. In addition to street performances, the dragon lantern performance can also be staged on water.
In Liuyang City, reputed as the "capital of fireworks" in China, festive celebrations reached a climax with a grand fireworks gala after night falls, celebrating the Chinese New Year holiday with dazzling visual spectacles. In particular, at 20:00 on Saturday, around 2,000 drones took to the sky amid a spectacular firework display along the Liuyang River running through the city, resembling auspicious clouds illuminating the night sky. The show featured splendid folk songs and dances, intangible cultural heritage-themed performances, and AI robot shows.
"The firework displays are truly spectacular and very impressive. Children love them as well. I will definitely introduce Liuyang to my relatives and friends so that they will all come to visit this place in the future. I will tell them that the people in Liuyang are very warm and welcoming," said a tourist from Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province.
"It's extremely impressive. We drove all the way from Handan [in north China] because we know Liuyang is reputed as the capital of fireworks, especially to watch the firework displays on the fifth day of the Chinese New Year," said another visitor from north China's Hebei Province.
The popularity of the fireworks gala has quickly translated into strong consumption momentum. Nearly 10,000 tickets for the event were sold out in advance that night, with more than 80 percent of visitors coming from outside the province. Official data showed that the event attracted over 200,000 tourist visits in a single day, driving comprehensive consumption exceeding 250 million yuan (about 36.19 million U.S. dollars).
Liuyang has hosted 145 creative fireworks events since 2023, drawing nearly 8 million tourist visits and directly boosting consumption by more than 20 billion yuan (289 million U.S. dollars), highlighting the growing role of cultural festivities in stimulating holiday tourism and spending.
Traditional dragon dances, fireworks ignite Spring Festival spirit in Hunan
