Giant smiling pandas, a 200-foot fire breathing dragon and a serene blue elephant greet visitors to this year's impressive Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival in Franklin Square. This celebration of light and culture features artisans from China creating magnificent steel-framed and silk-wrapped giant lighted sculptures, using traditional Chinese methods.
Other highlights include celebrating the Year of the Dog, tropical birds and fish, mythological animals, the world premiere of a new Fairy Tree, a walk-through Great White Shark Tunnel, and an interactive elephant lantern where visitors pedal a bicycle to change its colors.
As guests gaze at all the colorful lanterns around the Square, there are also many other highlights to see as well including Chinese folk artists, acrobatic performances, unique fare and the Dragon Beer Garden are other highlights as well.
Showcasing traditional Chinese crafts each night at the Festival, my favorite folk artist craft to watch work were the sugar painters. Guests can spin a wheel to pick the animal, such as a dragon, chicken or butterfly the artist will create with only melted sugar and a spoon. The artist then draws intricate designs on a stone board and mount it on a bamboo stick.
On any night you can watch performances such as:
- Face-Changing, an ancient Chinese dramatic art where a performer changes masks quicker than you can blink in this 300-year tradition of the Sichuan opera. The mystery is if the audience can notice the moment he changes his mask.
With so much to see and do, the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival is an entertaining way to spend a warm spring night.
If you go: The Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival is open from 7-11 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays and from 6-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are $18 for adults, $12 for children (17 and under), $15 for seniors and military and children two and under are free.
Franklin Square opens daily at 6 a.m. The Square closes each day at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays) for preparations for the Festival to begin. The park is cleared of guests during this time.
Now until June 30, Franklin Square will glow with 28 larger-than-life illuminated groupings of 1,500 individual works of art with more than 15,000 LED lights in brilliant colors. New technology and engineering will be utilized to bring an endangered species gallery to life for the first time in the United States.
Other highlights include celebrating the Year of the Dog, tropical birds and fish, mythological animals, the world premiere of a new Fairy Tree, a walk-through Great White Shark Tunnel, and an interactive elephant lantern where visitors pedal a bicycle to change its colors.
As guests gaze at all the colorful lanterns around the Square, there are also many other highlights to see as well including Chinese folk artists, acrobatic performances, unique fare and the Dragon Beer Garden are other highlights as well.
Showcasing traditional Chinese crafts each night at the Festival, my favorite folk artist craft to watch work were the sugar painters. Guests can spin a wheel to pick the animal, such as a dragon, chicken or butterfly the artist will create with only melted sugar and a spoon. The artist then draws intricate designs on a stone board and mount it on a bamboo stick.
Aluminum Wire Weaving – showcasing artistic weaving with aluminum materials, creating various characters like peacock, dragon, or even a bicycle.
Crystal Engraving – the artist uses a special electric carving pen to carve out names, wishes, mottos, or images on crystal material and then color it and make it into pendants, a cell phone pendant or a bracelet.
Name Painting – in ancient times, it was believed that having one’s name painted in animals brought good luck, and it is tradition to give such a gift on special occasions like a new birth. Calligraphers base their alphabet on Chinese symbols or brush art, representing such cultural images as dragons, mountains, birds, flowers and pandas to spell out a name.
Inner Bottle Painting – a Chinese art form where artists paint images and calligraphy on the inside surface of glass bottles using a specialized paintbrush through the neck of the bottle. A traditional craft, Inner Bottle Painting was often created on snuff bottles. Artists paint a design on the inside of a small bottle of crystal or amber glass with slim brushes. The glass must be of high quality for the painting to be successful.
Crystal Engraving – the artist uses a special electric carving pen to carve out names, wishes, mottos, or images on crystal material and then color it and make it into pendants, a cell phone pendant or a bracelet.
Name Painting – in ancient times, it was believed that having one’s name painted in animals brought good luck, and it is tradition to give such a gift on special occasions like a new birth. Calligraphers base their alphabet on Chinese symbols or brush art, representing such cultural images as dragons, mountains, birds, flowers and pandas to spell out a name.
Inner Bottle Painting – a Chinese art form where artists paint images and calligraphy on the inside surface of glass bottles using a specialized paintbrush through the neck of the bottle. A traditional craft, Inner Bottle Painting was often created on snuff bottles. Artists paint a design on the inside of a small bottle of crystal or amber glass with slim brushes. The glass must be of high quality for the painting to be successful.
On any night you can watch performances such as:
- Face-Changing, an ancient Chinese dramatic art where a performer changes masks quicker than you can blink in this 300-year tradition of the Sichuan opera. The mystery is if the audience can notice the moment he changes his mask.
- Plate Spinning, a traditional Chinese acrobatic performance where a person spins plates, bowls, and other flat objects on 3-foot bamboo poles, without dropping anything.
- Feet Juggling where a performer juggles porcelain bowls, equipment or other performers with his or her feet.
- Water-Spinning, where a glass bowl with water is tied on each end of a colorful string, which the performers spin carefully without spilling a drop.
- Contortion, watch as athletes showcase their skills of extreme physical flexibility within a narrow barrel accompanied by music or balancing ornamental lights on their feet, hands, and face as they twist and turn and stretch toward the sky.
- Jar-Juggling, where different kinds of porcelain jars are rolled by the performer’s head, hands, feet and arms.
After taking in all the sites, stop by for a bite of Japanese and American fare. The Great Lawn Grill by Roe Thai and Japanese Contemporary Cuisine features Chicken Satay, Beef Bao, Soba Noodle Salad, Thai Tea with Boba, Grilled Corn, hot milk and tea. The Snack Shack at the Shark from Innovative Catering Concepts highlights coffee drinks, slushies, Maglio sausage scaloppini, Italian Meatballs, steamed vegetable dumplings, chicken fried rice, vegetable fried rice and salmon salad.
After taking in all the sites, stop by for a bite of Japanese and American fare. The Great Lawn Grill by Roe Thai and Japanese Contemporary Cuisine features Chicken Satay, Beef Bao, Soba Noodle Salad, Thai Tea with Boba, Grilled Corn, hot milk and tea. The Snack Shack at the Shark from Innovative Catering Concepts highlights coffee drinks, slushies, Maglio sausage scaloppini, Italian Meatballs, steamed vegetable dumplings, chicken fried rice, vegetable fried rice and salmon salad.
With so much to see and do, the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival is an entertaining way to spend a warm spring night.
If you go: The Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival is open from 7-11 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays and from 6-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are $18 for adults, $12 for children (17 and under), $15 for seniors and military and children two and under are free.
Franklin Square opens daily at 6 a.m. The Square closes each day at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays) for preparations for the Festival to begin. The park is cleared of guests during this time.
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