Today in China

The Lantern Festival (元宵节, yuánxiāojié) takes place on the 15th day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar. It marks the end of the series of celebrations starting from the Chinese New Year.
On that day, people are used to eat Tangyuan (汤圆, tāngyuán). Tangyuan are made from glutinous rice flour and water to form balls. They are usually filled with sesame paste.
Traditionally, it was a day of matchmaking and young people would go in the street with colorful lanterns in the hope of finding love. In that point of view, it is quite a good choice to have the Lantern Festival just before the Western Valentine’s Day.

The Lantern Festival is becoming a family party and enjoyed mostly by children who go to parks to see the beautiful and colorful lanterns, often made in shapes of animals. Yesterday, I went to Chao Yang Park and took some pictures of the lanterns. You may find them in the Gallery!
Nowadays, teenagers and young adults prefer to celebrate Valentine’s Day. On that day, boyfriends and girlfriends will go to the cinema, have dinner together, lots of them will also spend some time in the Park to see the lanterns.
But Valentine’s Day seems to be important for single people too. Single Parties are organized in order for them to feel less lonely and, of course, to find a mate for next year’s Valentine’s Day.

Okay, one last thing about Valentine’s Day, Love and China. As you probably know, Chinese people are quite superstitious. For example, they dislike the number 4 (四, sì) which sounds like the death (死, sì). Well, in term of Love, they also have their numerical codes with the preferred one being 520 1314 which sounds similar to ‘I love you forever‘

Links
The Gallery
Wikipedia on the Lantern Festival