Wacky Wednesdays with Jenbiff

Lantern Festival

Hello everyone! I've been in Shanghai for about a week and have seen so many things along with spend lots of time with my family. One of the biggest things was Chinese New Year. But since that is like a week long thing, I'll tell you about some of the other things I've seen.

One thing we've done was go to a place called Yu Garden. It's a bunch of alleys leading up to a garden. It doesn't sound like much but the alleys are filled with little shops and eateries. And not to mention half of China. We went on the first day of the new year in the evening (Monday) and we went back yesterday during the day. It was absolutely freezing both times, but it was totally worth it. In the evening we were packed into a huge patio-type area to watch a Dragon Dance and count down to the lighting of the lanterns. While I got to know some people of China a lot better than I could have ever wanted, it was worth the zero personal space to see the lanterns and a real Dragon Dance. And the lack of personal space seemed more like a minor thought and only a small safety hazard while crossing the bridge to get to the beautiful gardens. It was definitely an experience! All the lights were beautiful! But I'll stop rambling and just show you instead:

This is a bridge leading to the garden. Note the amount of people on it.

The whole area was decorated with things like these.

In the actual garden...isn't it beautiful?

My mom and my dad's coworker, Iris

This is on top of the walls inside the garden

So beautiful

The lanterns and other decorations after they were lit.

More lanterns. Aren't they cute?

My mom and I

Another alley with more lanterns

The whole place was beautiful. Supposedly the only reason it was this packed was because it was a national holiday. But I think it may have something to do with the fact that there are 18,000,000 people in Shanghai alone.

Have you ever seen a real Chinese Dragon Dance?


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