Lantern City of China

The 32nd Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival will open at China Lantern World on January 24, 2026.This year’s lantern festival, themed “Illuminating China, Building Dreams for the Future,” features ten major sections including “Chinese Knot Boulevard,” “Fortune Square,” “Mulan’s Legend,” “Intangible Cultural Heritage Crafts,” and “Wonderful China.” With 11 large-scale lantern installations and over 200 medium and small lantern displays, it creates an immersive celebration blending intangible cultural heritage techniques with cutting-edge digital technology, presenting visitors with a vibrant artistic panorama of “harmonious coexistence.”This is a spectacular lantern festival blending ancient and modern artistry, where Zigong lanterns, tie-dyeing, paper-cutting, and other intangible cultural heritage techniques are intricately woven with Chinese mythological epics and classic historical tales. Centered around the imagery of the Year of the Horse, the event brilliantly showcases numerous folk stories, ancient legends, and cultural elements through dazzling light displays.The “Chinese knot gate” lantern installation, standing 35m tall with a design inspired by traditional Chinese knots, achieves visual harmony from both front and back views, resembling a time portal connecting past and present. The massive “Mystic China” lantern group, approx. 210m long, draws from Zhuangzi’s legendary imagery of the giant Kun fish transforming into a roc bird, using mythological storytelling to showcase national strength and ethnic pride. The 22m-tall “Yearly fortune” Nian beast lantern features AI interactive systems enabling heartwarming “dialogues” between humans and this ancient auspicious creature. For the upcoming Year of the Horse, the 180m-long “Mulan’s legend” installation—based on the Ballad of Mulan—pairs dynamic horse sculptures with the heroine’s heroic bearing, conveying profound patriotic sentiment.This is a creative wonderland where “anything can become a lantern,”This year’s lantern festival pushes creative boundaries by integrating eco-friendly recycled materials like blue-and-white porcelain, straw, medicine bottles, and chili peppers with local cultural elements and trendy materials like pipe cleaners into thematic lantern displays. These installations not only embody the eco-conscious concept of “turning waste into treasure,” but also revitalize ordinary materials through intangible cultural heritage craftsmanship, artistically conveying the cultural philosophy that “all things have spirit, and masterful artistry unites them.”In the “Imagine the Future” section, the dreamy lantern display “Fantasy Lantern Collection” draws inspiration from children’s artwork, featuring nearly 6,000 paintings by kids worldwide. Master lantern artisans, like modern-day “Magic Paintbrush Ma Liang,” transform these youthful creations into vibrant lanterns. These imaginative works transcend skin color, age, and nationality, using light and shadow as bridges to connect children’s innocent dreams globally, planting the seeds of “Zigong lanterns” across the world.This immersive experience showcases technology’s transformative power across all scenarios. The lantern festival breaks from traditional viewing modes, focusing on “tech-enhanced engagement” by incorporating AI interaction, smart touch controls, and light-responsive effects that visitors can manually trigger. A virtual digital human alliance and AR-integrated robotic dinosaurs create cross-era interactive experiences. Cutting-edge technology seamlessly connects viewing, playing, sensing, and reflecting – revitalizing millennia-old lantern traditions for the digital age.Additionally, the 300m-long “Salt Street Lantern Market” has been transformed into a themed photo street, featuring diverse photo spots including classical pavilions, cyber light installations, and folk markets. Costume and prop rental services are available to meet various photography needs. The entire park offers a 360-degree immersive performance experience, with NPCs playing dedicated scripted roles. The storyline unfolds naturally along the route through interactive dialogues and fun tasks, creating a deeply immersive experience where “every step reveals a new scene, and every scene tells a story.”As countless lights illuminate the new year across this ancient land, it transforms into a flowing epic of light and shadow. This is not merely a meeting of craftsmanship and technology, but a profound dialogue between timeless heritage and future aspirations.Let’s anticipate together how this luminous spectacle will brilliantly reimagine ancient tales through light and shadow, allowing the celestial river of Chinese heritage to flow gently within every lantern’s glow.