The Lantern Festival is celebrated everywhere on January 15th of the lunar calendar, right after the Spring Festival. Traditionally, the Lantern Festival is a part of the Spring Festival. This day is always the first full moon in the lunar New Year. Across China, people celebrate by hanging up lanterns and festoons attending dancing and singing performances, making "Yuan Xiao" or sweet rice glue balls and lighting fireworks. This is also a continuation of the Spring Festival celebration.

　　每年农历的正月十五日是中国人的元宵节,它正好在春节之后。传统意义上元宵节也是春节活动的一部分。这天是农历新年里第一个月圆的日子。中国各地张灯结彩，家家户户歌舞游乐，人们做元宵、放烟火。这也是庆祝春节的延续。

　　On the Lantern Festival night, the moon illuminates the dark sky while many lanterns shine bright colors on the earth. The traditions of viewing decorative lanterns on this night began more than two thousand years ago in the Western Han Dynasty. In the earlier times, those beautiful lanterns were only seen in imperial palaces.  Slowly it evolved into a celebration on the grand scale for the ordinary folks everywhere. A few days before the lantern festival, people begin gathering oiled paper, silk cloths,  bamboo sticks and flower to make all types of lanterns. Some people go to the lively streets to pick a personal favorite. The lanterns sometimes come in a series about certain folklore,  holiday customs, or lucky mascots.

　　在元宵节之夜,天上明月高照，地上彩灯万盏。元宵夜观花灯的习俗开始于两干多年前的西汉时期。早期过节只是在皇宫中点灯祈福，慢慢地演变成民间最盛大的灯节。在元宵节前几天,人们就开始忙着用油纸、绸布、竹子和花朵等材料制作各式各样的灯笼，或者到热闹的灯市上挑选自己喜爱的灯笼。花灯的主题既有民间传说,又有节日习俗和各种吉祥物等。

　　The Lantern Festival is also a romantic holiday. In feudal society, young girls were not allowed to go out freely. But on the night of the Lantern Festival, they were allowed to view the lantern lights in groups. Sometimes couples would go on dates strolling down the streets lit with lantern lights. Today people still invite others to view lanterns together.

　　元宵节也是一个浪漫的节日。在封建社会时，年轻女孩不允许出外自由活动。但在元宵节晚上，她们却可以结伴出游观赏花灯。未婚男女也常借着赏花灯与情人相会。如今人们依然会在元宵夜相邀一起去赏花灯。

　　Across China, Lantern Festival is celebrated in many different styles. In places near water, people put Lotus Lanterns in the river to let them flow down stream, carrying the loss they feel for the relatives that have passed away. In the North, as traditional customs combined with modern science and technology, there evolved the lce Lantern Festival. The combination of the ice and snow with colored light, carvings, designs, and special scenery yield a spectacular winter paradise.

　　在中国南北各地都有风格不同的元宵灯会。在临水的地方，人们把做好的莲花灯放进河里,让灯顺流而下，带去自己对已逝亲人的思念。在北方，传统习俗与现代科技相结合发展成为冰灯节。天然冰雪与灯光色彩巧妙结合，透过雕塑、造型、建筑和造景，成为一个绚丽的冰雪天堂。