On 31 January, local time in Paris, France, the Festival Dragons et Lanternes once again ushered in a highlight moment. That evening, guests from China and France lighted up the Festival Dragons et Lanternes in Jardin d'Acclimatation, a city park loved by many Parisians. The night sky was aglow with 60 large-scale lantern installations and over 2,000 lanterns, officially kicking off the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism.

Ten days ago, the 2024 Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival opened in Shanghai, China. Dazzling lanterns brighten up Paris and Shanghai, creating resonance between the two bustling cities.

Since 15 December last year, Jardin d'Acclimatation has opened an evening session for the Festival Dragons et Lanternes, with tickets priced at 18 euros. Local residents often arrived early, forming long queues that stretch two blocks. During peak hours, Jardin d'Acclimatation recorded a foot traffic of 4,000 people per hour. As a result, crowd control measures had to be implemented, and the President of Jardin d'Acclimatation said, "I haven't seen a such huge crowd in years!"

As a themed event for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, what makes the Festival Dragons et Lanternes so attractive? As the latest intangible cultural heritage project to go overseas, what insights do the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festivals in China and the Festival Dragons et Lanternes in France bring?

Insight #1: The essence of bilateral relations lies in the affinity between people

In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife paid a state visit to China. On 5 November of that year, the presidents of China and France met in Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai, and watched a Kunqu opera performance. Macron said, “Shanghai amazes me as I see China's openness and future here. Both France and China boast a splendid civilization and advocate inclusiveness and mutual learning among different civilizations.”

This state visit made Yuyuan Garden a landmark that redefined Shanghai and China in the hearts of not only the French president but also the French people. In Yuyuan Garden, one can witness the epitome of history, and in the commercial district centered around the garden, one can witness modern prosperity. History and reality, local and international, complement each other in Yuyuan Garden, reflecting the city's inclusiveness and China’s openness.

The year 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, and is also the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism. On this occasion, the lantern festival is being held in both Shanghai and Paris to celebrate with the people of China and France, serving as a testimony to the friendship between China and France over the past 60 years and as a guiding force in further enhancing their bilateral relations in the next 60 years.

The foundation of bilateral relations lies in the affinity between people, and the affinity between people lies in the similarity of hearts. The Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival is a major local folk event and its significance extends beyond the literal meaning of "gathering of lanterns", but also "gathering of people" with the display of colorful lanterns. Families come together to enjoy the colorful lanterns, send blessings to each other and welcome the New Year. The Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival in Shanghai and the Festival Dragons et Lanternes in Paris further magnify this beautiful significance. As the New Year and Spring Festival arrive, the lanterns serve as a bond to connect the hearts of the people of China and France, while the Yuyuan Garden serves as a carrier to intricately intertwine Eastern and Western civilizations. Although China and France are geographically separated by thousands of mountains and seas, the friendship between the two nations has become closer and stronger.

Insight #2: Actively bringing Chinese culture overseas

An important task in the cultural field today is to strengthen international communication capabilities, facilitating the spread of Chinese stories and Chinese elements overseas and showcasing the image of a great civilization to the world. However, the world's understanding of Chinese culture is still in a fragmented and elemental stage. To provide a more comprehensive and thorough understanding of Chinese culture to the world, it is necessary to promote Chinese culture overseas with an approach that encompasses all elements holistically.

As a national intangible cultural heritage project, a natural idea of bringing the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival overseas would be to decorate the streets and alleys of overseas cities with a variety of colorful lanterns, but such fragmented decorations cannot effectively showcase Chinese aesthetics or the cultural significance behind the lanterns.

Therefore, we holistically present the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival overseas, recreating the scenery in bustling area overseas by “transporting” the Nine-turn Bridge and the Huxin Pavilion to Jardin d'Acclimatation, where modern light and shadow techniques complement traditional craftsmanship. The lanterns seamlessly integrate with the architecture and environment, offering visitors a visually captivating experience reminiscent of an oriental garden.

In addition to the scenery, Yuyuan’s Chinese time-honored Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant has set up a “market stall” in the park, where chefs from Shanghai make steamed buns on-site, attracting visitors to queue up. The immersive experience of beautiful scenery and delicious food allows overseas visitors to experience the unique festive atmosphere of the Chinese New Year. This is the true purpose of bringing intangible cultural heritage overseas and introducing Chinese culture overseas.

Insight #3: Sharing beauty and breaking stereotypes

To inherit and innovate China’s excellent traditional culture, it is necessary to “revive” the artifacts stored in museums, the heritage displayed across vast lands, and the words written in ancient texts. At the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival, visitors see colorful lanterns and appreciate the cultural images represented by each lantern. These images are the portrayal or abstract representation of ancient texts, museum collections, and the vast cultural heritage, collectively reflecting the profound essence of traditional Chinese culture.

In Jardin d'Acclimatation, “Longma” （Dragon & Horse） from Chinese mythology carries a river map and rides the waves; the white deer leads a group of fawns; mythical creatures such as Kun （big fish）, Yinglong (flying dragon), Flying Fish, Qingsi Fish from “The Classic of Seas" in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" also make their appearances. The images of these mythical creatures may not be familiar to the Chinese people or receive much attention from the world. However, as highlighted by the theme of the lantern festival, "The Spirit of Mountains and Seas”, the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival and the Festival Dragons et Lanternes not only present the familiar dragon totem or zodiac elements in Chinese culture to the Chinese people and the world, they also showcase a series of mythological scenes recorded in ancient texts. It is these familiar or unfamiliar mythical creature images, their significances, and their stories that collectively form a magnificent Chinese mythology comparable to that of ancient Greece and Rome, composing a splendid early civilization epic.

Voltaire once said, "If any annals carry with them the stamp of certainty, they are those of China, which have united, as has been already said, the history of heaven with that of earth." In the 18th century, there was a "China Fever" in France when Voltaire lived there. Chinese porcelain, lacquerware, silk, and tea entered the lives of Europeans through maritime trade. Influenced by Chinese art, France also created a number of "Chinese-style" panel paintings, prints, and oil paintings. However, it is evident that due to cultural barriers and limited perspectives in cultural exchange, these "Chinese-style" daily necessities or artworks cannot accurately and comprehensively reflect the essence of Chinese culture. Instead, they formed stereotypes in Chinese culture and art to some extent.

Therefore, the oriental lifestyle aesthetics represented by the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival aims to break these aesthetic stereotypes and transcend the traditional Western perspective on Chinese artistic elements. It aims to present authentic cultural knowledge and aesthetic concepts to the world. At the Festival Dragons et Lanternes, many French visitors took photos near the "zodiac lantern installation". They also showed great interest in the Chinese-style blessing rituals and were amazed by the colorful mythical creature lanterns, which precisely indicate that the beauty of Chinese culture is not limited to specific visual patterns but lies in its inexhaustible richness and boundless imagination.

Spirit of the mountains and seas, friends across mountains and seas! These two homophonic sets of words related to the theme of the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival are a warm response to the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. They are also a vivid illustration of the excellent traditional Chinese culture and the openness of China’s diplomacy.