Twenty Years of Tradition: A Mission to Deliver a High-Quality Cultural Feast for the People

The 100-meter “Lantern Street” sparkles with vibrant lights as children joyfully chase the dancing shadows and glowing patterns, filling the air with laughter.

Gaodian Community’s intangible cultural heritage performance, “Xiamen-Kinmen Song Jiang Battle Array” wins wave after wave of applause from the crowd.

The “5-Minute Sports Show” offers endless fun and excitement for both adults and children.

Activities like the Chinese anime-themed parade bring refreshing new experiences for all to enjoy.

Artists from Liancheng County show amazing performances of intangible cultural heritage.

Huli District has once again innovated by creating a festive scene for the Lantern Festival on Egret Island (Xiamen) with its “Traditional Gene + Fashion Expression” model. Pictured here are residents capturing the beauty of the lantern show.

The Spring Festival joy is still lingering, and the excitement of the Lantern Festival has arrived. On February 8, the 20th Xiamen Lantern Festival Folk Culture Series officially kicked off at the main venue in the Sea World of Huli, marking the start of a five-day festive celebration. A thousand-meter seaside corridor, illuminated by 2,000 traditional lanterns, served as the stage for a fusion of Minnan nursery rhymes and modern street dance. Highlights like “Intangible Cultural Heritage Performances and Folk Temple Fairs” complemented “Sports Shows and AI Lantern Riddles,” creating a delightful mix of tradition and innovation. For 20 consecutive years, Huli District has brought an annual cultural feast to residents and visitors. This year, it has once again innovated by creating a festive scene for the Lantern Festival on Egret Island (Xiamen) with its “Traditional Gene + Fashion Expression” model.

In recent years, Huli District has creatively adopted the idea of blending “traditional culture with modern life,” setting a stage through government support to have “streets (communities), businesses, and the public” take the lead, so as to develop the Lantern Festival activities with a unique contemporary appeal. While promoting traditional culture and enriching the cultural lives of the people, this initiative continues to drive the integration of culture, tourism, and commerce, propelling the district toward high-quality development.

Innovating Traditions with Flair,

Intangible Heritage Beyond Compare,

The first-ever “Intangible Cultural Heritage” Spring Festival celebration in Huli District has explored deep into the essence of local culture, merging it with sports, tourism, and commerce to create a lively new landscape.

Using both their mouths and noses, two performers skillfully played eight suona horns simultaneously. Lin Wuhe, a folk artist from Liancheng, the Mountain-Sea Cooperation Project Unit of Huli District, and Huang Rongsheng, a national-level inheritor of Minnan Shifan Hakka music, created beautiful harmonies, filling the air with the Hakka tune “Four Joys at the Door, Gong Ma Blow.” Listening intently, one could discern the tonal variations as if eight people were performing a single composition. The impressive skills left children standing on chairs, craning their necks, while the audience applauded enthusiastically in awe.

On the evening of February 8, the 20th Xiamen Lantern Festival Folk Culture Series kicked off at Xiamen Sea World, with intangible cultural heritage performances from local and Liancheng artists creating waves of excitement among the audience.

One of the highlights was the Xiamen-Jinmen Song Jiang Battle Array brought by the Gaodian community in Huli District, which once again brought the audience to a fever pitch. Seventy-two martial arts enthusiasts, aged 6 to 40, showcased fluid movements with long staffs, cudgels, Podao (Chinese broadswords), long spears, and Shaolin Shuang Guai and double hammers, presenting in a flowing and seamless style. Formations like “Hornet’s Nest,” “Linked Rings,” and “Long Snake” left viewers captivated. The performers showed the strength and richness of Chinese martial arts while emphasizing the need to preserve and promote its spirit.

The saying “Ten years of practice for one minute on stage” rings true, as Huli District has effectively preserved and transmitted its intangible heritage. According to Chen Renzhong, the First Secretary of the Gaodian community Party Committee, the “Hushan Song Jiang Battle Array” in Gaodian has been well-known in the Minnan region since the Ming and Qing dynasties and remained popular until the 1950s. Since 2006, supported by the District and street authorities, the Gaodian Community has relied on the New Era Civilization Practice Station and Gaodian Martial Arts Center to form martial arts performance teams, dragon and lion dance teams, and the “Hushan Song Jiang Battle Array” team. By providing public courses in Song Jiang Battle Array and dragon and lion dances, they have integrated intangible heritage with local culture, passing down and promoting excellent traditional Chinese culture in a way that is accessible and enjoyable to the public.

The Jinliansheng Gaojia Troupe revived classic opera melodies, earning thunderous applause for Gezai opera excerpts from “Spring Outing” and “Encountering the Suspect.” Meanwhile, the Xiamen Municipal Nanyue Ensemble performed ancient music pieces, including “Gazing at the Bright Moon” and “The Lantern Festival”, conveying poignant stories through thousand-year-old traditional music. In addition to the public-benefit performances from the city’s state-owned art troupes, various art troupes in Huli District also presented a series of large-scale stage performances for the public, including orchestral music, fashion shows, and folk music, making the Xiamen Sea World a grand stage for folk culture exhibitions over the past five days.

The AI aesthetics workshop lights up the Lantern Festival. This year, the Huli District Education Bureau introduced eight online 3D campus intangible heritage exhibition halls using digital and 3D modeling technology, offering a 360° panoramic experience that integrates traditional intangible heritage into modern education. This immersive platform allows students and the public to appreciate the charm of campus-based intangible heritage. On the other hand, the “Intangible Heritage in the Lantern Shadows” check-in activity took place offline, drawing children to bring their handmade lanterns to the site for exchange and display. Lin Xuantong, a student from Gaodian Central Primary School, brought his handmade lantern, which he had spent two days carefully making, to the check-in event. “This is a very innovative way of learning, where we can learn and have fun, and without even realizing it, I get to experience the intangible cultural heritage. It’s fantastic,” the fifth-grader said.

Enhancing Public Delight,

Immersive Lantern Festival Celebrations, a Neighborhood Sight,

As nightfall descends, the 100-meter “Lantern Street” sparkles with vibrant lights as children joyfully chase the dancing shadows of koi fish, filling the air with laughter. The aroma of traditional snacks such as sugar paintings, yuanxiao (glutinous rice balls), and Sea Worm Jelly wafted through the air, drawing long queues in front of the lively street in Huli. The “Trendy Cultural Street” pulsed with youthful energy, as young stall owners presented their innovative interpretations of traditional Minnan elements. On the evening of February 8, the accompanying event “Good Things Happen, Great Gathering” launched a Lantern Festival market featuring over 60 stalls, filling the city with festive spirit through joyful dance and music.

The “Xiamen Old Brands Street” brought together over a dozen iconic brands, including Gulong Foods and Seashine Huang Jin Xiang. Lin Tianfu, a local resident, exclaimed, “These tastes have been with me since I was a child. They are etched into my memory as nostalgia!” The organizers had thoughtfully planned a “Food Passport” activity, where visitors could collect stamps and exchange them for limited-edition cultural and creative products, attracting crowds and also helping retain them.

With visual appeal, fun, and excitement, the folk temple fair at Huli’s Lantern Festival is one of its major highlights. Despite the sea breeze, the “5-Minute Sports Show” area can heat things up with six fun sports activities, including ball tosses, lucky throws, ping pong challenges, and balance games. Trendy music concerts, traditional Chinese style and animation flash mobs, and the night-time water lantern blessing activities added a refreshing new touch to the festivities.

As the final lantern dimmed, the joy of the Lantern Festival market melted into a warm, cozy spring evening in Huli District. This thoughtfully designed “cultural gathering” has brilliantly redefined traditional festivals in a fresh and innovative way, blending nostalgic flavors with contemporary trends.

According to statistics, during the event, the Sea World commercial circle attracted 241,000 visitors, an 8% increase from the previous year. The total revenue reached 10.98 million yuan, reflecting a 7.2% year-on-year growth. This success not only boosted the consumption market but also created a win-win situation for both “cultural traffic” and “economic growth.” Additionally, the various sub-venues actively engaged local businesses, cultural enterprises, and intangible cultural heritage units, further generating a consumption boom in the surrounding areas.

Twenty Years of Unchanging Heart,

Offering the Masses a High-Quality Cultural Feast to Start

Standing in the glittering sea of lights at Xiamen Sea World, one can witness the joint efforts of intangible cultural heritage artisans from both sides of the Strait as they created a “Shared Roots, Shared Origins” themed lantern installation, listening to the adorable “post-2010” children perform a century-old Gezai opera with their innocent voices, and viewing the photo exhibition of the “20 Years We’ve Walked Together” Lantern Festival cultural series. This spring, the 20th Xiamen Lantern Festival Folk Culture Series, has dynamically connected the collective memories of Xiamen’s residents with the pulse of the times.

Over the course of twenty years, what has changed is the increasingly rich cultural expression, while what remains unchanged is the original intention of serving the people. When the first event was held in 2005, the Lantern Festival was merely a lantern show at Jiangtou Park, with crowds gathered outside the police cordon to admire the lanterns. However, today, the kilometer-long coastline has transformed into an open cultural corridor, where citizens are not only spectators but also active participants: martial arts enthusiasts from Dianqian Street spontaneously organized the “Song Jiang Battle Array,” while community art troupes performed their original work, “Colorful Balls Dancing.” From a government-organized, public-watched event to a public-created, everyone-enjoyed celebration, this 20-year cultural relay has truly returned the traditional festival to the people.

What has also changed is the dimension of cultural radiation. The event locations have expanded from Taiwan Street to Haitian Road and now include commercial areas like Huli Red Star Macalline, OnePark Plaza, and Sea World. The integration of culture, tourism, and commerce has turned the Lantern Festival IP into a city cultural symbol, bringing tangible benefits to the people. Over 20 years of development, the Xiamen Lantern Festival Folk Culture Series has expanded its influence, leading to the development of more than 10 community art troupes in Huli District, including the Huli District Community Culture and Art Association, Hesheng Community Xinya Art Troupe, Huli Xianyue Mountain Art Troupe, and Heshan Community Art Troupe, significantly stimulating the cultural innovation and creativity within Huli District.

Twenty years have passed, and what has changed is the ever-evolving medium, while what remains unchanged is the initial intention of bringing cultural benefits to the people. From “A Thousand Lanterns Illuminating Huli” to “Ten Thousand Homes Sharing Lanterns Together,” this Lantern Festival celebration, filled with the original spirit of serving the people, has always been answering the same question: When traditional culture meets new era demands, how can cultural confidence take root and thrive in the midst of everyday life? Huli District has provided an answer through its twenty-year practice - giving the stage to the people and returning culture to daily life.

“Twenty years is not the end but a new start for cultural innovation,” said Xu Shuchun, a Level I Principal Staff Member at the Huli District Committee’s Publicity Department, as she explained the underlying logic behind this folk cultural celebration. Standing at this new starting point, Huli District will use the deep integration of culture, tourism, and commerce as its driving force, continually enriching the spiritual and cultural lives of its people, advancing the deeper and more effective implementation of cultural benefits for the public, and channeling fresh energy into the district’s high-quality development.

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Sub-Venue Activities Full of Delight

Lantern Festival “Village” Gala, China-Chic Cultural and Creative Exhibitions, Garden Parties, Lantern DIY, and Yuanxiao (Glutinous Rice Ball) Making Competitions... During the Lantern Festival, many streets, communities, and parks in Huli District organized a variety of engaging and exciting activities, filling the air with a strong sense of tradition, vitality, and excitement. Residents could experience traditional folk culture and festivities right at their doorstep, immersing themselves in a cultural and tourism feast full of festive atmosphere.

Colorful and dazzling song and dance performances, mesmerizing intangible cultural heritage displays, and hilarious skit performances... The Gaodian Community’s Lantern Festival Gala, which has been held for 21 consecutive years, has become an essential annual event for the community, equivalent to a “Residents’ Own Spring Festival Gala”. This year’s event closely centered on the theme of community culture and governance, with residents taking center stage in self-directed, self-acted, and self-performed shows. Through a variety of rich and diverse cultural performances and intangible cultural heritage shows, the event vividly highlighted the achievements of community governance and the effectiveness of cultural heritage development.

At OnePark Plaza, the “New Year Innovative Lantern Festival - The Dragon Returns” series revitalized traditional celebrations. Collaborating with intangible cultural heritage artists from Datian, Sanming, the event presented a striking 100-meter-long heritage bench dragon. Along with traditional Lantern Festival elements, visitors enjoyed fascinating intangible heritage flame art performances, traditional Yingge Dance, and a Hanfu parade adorned with delicate flower hairpins, providing a refreshing and exhilarating experience.

In addition, from the western to the eastern parts of the island, Huli District organized a variety of unique Lantern Festival activities, spanning several cultural and creative hubs and commercial zones, including Lianfa Creative Port, Aviation Gu Di Shi Square, Xianyue Academy, Huihe Stone Culture Park, and Lingyun Onyx. By adopting a “folklore + cultural creativity + modern trends” model, these events continued to amplify the festive atmosphere.