Chinese celebrates Lantern Festival with lantern shows, heritage performances

Chinese people across the country have been marking the Lantern Festival with vibrant lantern fairs, cultural heritage performances and bowls of sweet tangyuan -- glutinous rice balls served as a traditional Chinese dessert.

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the first month on the Chinese lunar calendar. This year, it is celebrated on Tuesday. It marks the end of the celebrations of the 15-day Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival.

In the eastern Chinese city of Ji'an, Jiangxi Province, 39 dragon dance troupes from across the province and from Dongguan, a city in the neighboring Guangdong Province, gathered for a large-scale performance ahead of the festival.

"We've invited the team from Dongguan to perform here and engage in exchanges so we can learn from each other, and so that our intangible heritage not only lives but also thrives," said Deng Jianmin, an inheritor of the traditional carp lantern dance.

In Tianshui, a city in northwest China's Gansu Province, more than 500 performers staged lion and dragon dances at the Longcheng Square, drawing crowds of residents and out-of-town visitors.

To mark the Lantern Festival, more than 1,000 lanterns lit up the night sky over Qingshui county, drawing crowds of visitors eager to capture the celebrations on camera.

Shanghai's historic Yuyuan Garden drew crowds eager to admire elaborate lanterns for the festival, while families were drawn to a hand-crafted rabbit lantern, a symbol of reunion and happiness.

In the coastal city of Zhangzhou, east China's Fujian Province, the local specialty of brown sugar tangyuan proved popular.

"We sell about 1,500 to 2,500 bowls a day," said Chen Limin, a restaurant owner.

In Ordos, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, parades, traditional chopstick dances and folk performances from across the country -- including waist drum troupes from northwest China's Shaanxi -- were staged to celebrate the festival

The local authorities said Ordos staged 126 cultural and tourism events during the Spring Festival period, distributed 1.5 million yuan (about 210,000 U.S. dollars) in consumer vouchers and welcomed 3.58 million visitors, generating 2.5 billion yuan in tourism revenue.

Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, announced early Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz has been closed to all vessels, including oil tankers and commercial ships, due to security threats in the waterway.

The headquarters warned that any vessel attempting to transit the strait will be targeted.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy also announced that the Strait of Hormuz has been closed until further notice, as the United States has repeatedly violated the ceasefire.

The IRGC warned that no vessel is allowed to leave its anchorage in the Persian Gulf or the Gulf of Oman, and that approaching the strait will be regarded as collaborating with the enemy.