Is Lantern Festival an ancient Chinese Valentine's Day?
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January 15 on lunar calendar marks the 2,000-year-old Lantern Festival, which falls on Saturday this year. Traditionally, Chinese people celebrated the day by appreciating paper lanterns, eating gluttonous rice balls, and most importantly, dating.

People buy lanterns on the Lantern Festival in Quanzhou, Fujian in 1981. [Photo: Xinhua]

Ancient China had been a feudal society where unmarried ladies were oppressed; not allowed to go outside of their home. The Lantern Festival was a rare occasion for girls to go out, watch lanterns, and take the opportunity to date their sweethearts.

Folklorist Gao Wei said although China doesn't have an indigenous "Day for lovers", the Lantern Festival was the one that most resembles the Valentine's Day. "There were lively lantern shows for the public, which justified girls going out and created opportunities for them to meet and get to know males," said Gao.

Workers make paper lanterns in Shandong in 1987. [Photo: Xinhua]

Many people regard the lunar July 7, or the Double Seventh Festival, as the Chinese Valentine's Day, but Gao said July 7 was designed to celebrate the love between husbands and wives, while the Lantern Festival was for the unmarried.

A lantern show in Beijing in 2013 [Photo: sina.com]

At present, the Lantern Festival is no longer the only chance for Chinese people to meet the opposite sex, but they have kept the traditions of eating gluttonous rice balls and watching lanterns.

Lanterns on sale in Nanjing on Feb 10, 2017 [Photo: chinanews.com]

The festival to many Chinese also symbolizes the ending of the lunar New Year celebration, thus is the start of another round of a travel rush for migrant workers to return to work from their hometowns.

China Railway Corp. expects 8.2 million trips to be made by rail on Saturday, and has scheduled an additional 598 trains to cope with demand.

Author： 　　　Source：CRI　　　 Editor：Yang Fan