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Philly’s Chinese Lantern Festival is back on Friday, June 5 at Franklin Square Park. This year, you can expect to see exhibits that reflect the semiquincentennial – along with traditional Chinese culture.
“We actually made some like World Cup-related lanterns, and also it’s the 250th anniversary for America, so we actually do bring a few symbolic lanterns representing the celebration, the anniversary, and also representing Philadelphia,” said Jessie Li, business development manager for Tianyu Arts & Culture, an organization providing lantern festivals across America and Europe.
“There’s a combination with that, and in the meantime, Chinese culture is always embedded in the Chinese Lantern Festival.”
Li is from Zigong, a part of China located in Sichuan Province. While traditional lantern festivals were believed to have started nearly 2,000 years ago during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zigong was the site of the first modern lantern festival in 1964.
“Zingong used to be called the ‘lantern capital,’ so I grew up there with this traditional celebration during the Chinese New Year time, and I pretty much went to see the lantern festival every year, so this kind of culture and this kind of arts and crafts has been embedded in my brain ever since I was a kid,” she said.
Li’s work with Tianyu Arts & Culture now involves bringing that same enthusiasm to American lantern festivals. She has been working with the Chinese Lantern Festival in Philly since it started in 2016, which has involved combining these traditional elements with more modern ones.
“The art is handmade by artisans from China, and we also made a few lanterns representing such culture,” she said. “Each year, there will be either a story, animals or mystical creatures, or symbols from Asia, or China. We also bring performance and handicrafters to showcase a unique part of the Chinese culture that may be rarely seen.”
Drawing on cultural traditions
Guanghong Jiang, a master artisan who helps to work on the Chinese Lantern festival, spoke with the Billy Penn team during a video chat from Zigong. With Li translating, Jiang emphasized the impact his involvement with this festival has had on his life.
“It started in 2003 and it’s been 23 years for him,” she said. “He started to get in contact with this when he was in college, where his major was arts, and then the arts can combine with the lantern festival. Then, after entering the industry, he continued to learn from these arts and crafts, and then by apprenticeship, which usually takes about three to five years, he was able to understand and get familiar with this lantern festival.”
Jiang said he is inspired by this year’s theme. He feels that lantern making can adapt to the areas it is being brought into.
“The most unique one for this year is that we involved the World Cup theme in the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival,” he said. “Because the lantern-making skill is traditional, but it is also very flexible and can expand through craftsmanship, and then to combine this year’s events happening in Philadelphia, or happening in the world when they design the themes and come up with ideas.”
Jiang said the festival has come a long way since its inception.
“In the very beginning, this event was more of a lantern exhibition, but as the years go by, our company made creations and gradually made changes to the lanterns to make them more interactive and immersive,” he said.
Despite the language barrier, Jiang has found that the appreciation for Chinese culture and lanterns in the festival is universal.
“When our artisans are on site, they can’t speak English, so they can’t really verbally communicate with audiences, but just by looking at their face, and then their experience and the feedback, like their laughs when visiting the event, it just feels like the guests’ experience, or their preference and approval has been increasing each year.”
This year’s festival
This year’s Chinese Lantern Festival will debut on Friday, June 5 in Franklin Square Park at 6th and Race streets.
The festival will feature landscapes, interactive art displays, food and drink vendors, a cocktail bar, stages, fountain show performances and more.
The festival is open every day from 6-11 p.m. until August 16, except for July 4. The festival is rain or shine, unless there are extreme weather conditions.
While you can enter anytime Monday-Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday tickets are timed. Tickets with an entry time of 7 p.m. or later on these days can enter 15 minutes prior to the time of the ticket or any time after. After entering, you are allowed to stay as long as you’d like – but it’s recommended that patrons enter by 9:30 to enjoy the full 90-minute experience.
Tickets for adults (ages 14-64) are $28 on Monday-Thursday and $32 on Friday-Sunday. Tickets for children (ages 3-13) are $16 Monday-Sunday. For seniors (65+) or active military, tickets are $25 Monday-Thursday and $29 Friday-Sunday. Children 2 and under are free.
For more information, you can visit the Philly Chinese Lantern Festival website.
Franklin Square is still open daily – with the park and playgrounds opening at 6 a.m. The Parx Liberty Carousel and Philly Mini Golf on park grounds will open at 10 a.m. The Square will close at 5 p.m. each day for festival prep – and guests will be cleared from the area during that time.
