The Lantern Festival is an important traditional occasion that brings the Spring Festival to an end. Various activities are held in celebration of the festival across China.
In the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the GBA), the liveliest Lantern Festival folk event is none other than Crossing the Tongji Bridge, where people from all walks of life, holding auspicious items such as golden windmills and lettuce, parade across the Tongji bridge, one of the city’s earliest bridges built near the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), to pray for a new year of good luck and wealth. While walking across the bridge, they chant a slogan, “Xing Tong Ji, Mou Bi Yi”, literally “Cross the Tongji Bridge, the trouble goes away.”
The event, after three years of suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was held once again during the Lantern Festival, which fell on Feb 5 this year. The event attracted more than 300,000 visitors.
