First Show of Chengdu Jinsha Lanterns on Seoul Lantern Festival Tonight

Release Time: 2017-10-24

    The 6th Seoul Lantern Festival was held along the Cheonggyecheon (Stream) with participation of almost 80 groups. It is of the highest scale in regular festivals of Seoul. On the festival, lanterns focusing on ancient Shu culture and Chengdu culture, represented by the Sun Bird, Gold Mask and Panda, which took 25 days of 14 creative makers, had made its first show as the greetings of Chengdu to the whole world. Yesterday the reporter arrived at the Cheonggyecheon and visited the director Jae-ho Park of the working group and the lantern festival, who said with great sincerity: “the lantern groups from Chengdu, focusing on ancient Shu culture and Chengdu Jinsha culture, attracted the most eyes with its gorgeousness, dynamics and colors, via which, the locals who knew nothing about the Jinsha culture managed to acquire a perceptual and thorough understanding on the history and civilization of ancient Shu 3,000 years ago.

    The festival brought the style of Chengdu to the local and the director Jae-ho Park was confident toward its complete success. “The exhibition lasts 17 days to Nov. 23, and about 400 million visitors are expected. It is hoped that the Chengdu lanterns would be a highlight.” Far before its beginning, some visitors had arrived at the venue for photos. They showed special interests to the Pandas and Gold Mask. They often asked workers on site for stories behind the Gold Mask in English. “Undoubtedly, those lanterns have introduced the Korean a new Chengdu. They are lovely and all our efforts are returned.” Jae-ho Park praised those makers from Sichuan. Also the reporter interviewed Liu Zheng, the representative of the lantern makers. According to his introduction, the Chengdu lanterns were different from others since they were packed with cloth for bright color. More attention was paid to the integrity and dynamics to make the lantern more changeable while the lanterns from other places were more concerned about the creativity. 

    It is learned that the Jinsha Sun Festival witnessed cooperation between the Jinsha Site Museum and Special Municipal Government of Seoul, Republic of Korea to build the “Seoul Garden of Korea”. The traditional Korean lanterns and other cultural project were welcomed by the citizens and became a highlight on the festival. Its success established a contact between the Jinsha Sun Festival and the Seoul Lantern Festival. Given the successful cooperation, the Special Municipal Government of Seoul, Republic of Korea issued a letter of invitation to the organization committee of the Jinsha Sun Festival, which contributed to the show of the Jinsha lanterns (made of traditional technology) on behalf of the ancient Shu civilization at Seoul!