Nanjing Confucius Temple Lantern Festival: Qinhuai Lights for Chinese New Year

Channel: Wei's Travel Published: July 15, 2026 Duration: 2:03:15 Views: 122.9K

What this video shows

This is a long, continuous walk through the Qinhuai Lantern Festival, held at the Confucius Temple area of Nanjing during the 2025 Spring Festival period marking the Year of the Snake. The footage also covers the nearby Laomendong Historic District, east of Zhonghua Gate, a restored quarter of traditional Nanjing residences and old shopfronts. The camera moves through crowds of visitors viewing large illuminated lantern displays rather than following a single person or household. The presentation is largely scenic and historical, describing the festival's origins and the city's past rather than interviewing residents.

At a glance

LocationNanjing, Jiangsu (Confucius Temple and Laomendong Historic District)
SettingLarge city; historic central districts
What it coversSpring Festival lantern displays and historic streetscape
Costs mentionedNone mentioned
Time of dayEvening lantern viewing, not stated in the video

What stands out

The Qinhuai Lantern Festival is described as a national intangible cultural heritage, and the video claims it is the oldest Spring Festival lantern festival in China, the longest-lasting and largest in scale, and the one with the most participants. It is unusual among Chinese lantern events in combining an exhibition, a festival, and a lantern market in one fair. Its history is traced to the Southern Dynasties, when the custom took hold in the capital Jiankang, with rapid growth in the Tang Dynasty and a peak in the Ming. Laomendong, now a national 5A-level scenic area, was once a residential quarter for prominent families and a Ming-era commercial and handicraft hub, and today mixes heritage shops with leisure and tourism.

Video transcript

Nanjing is a very large city in China. It is also a famous historical and cultural city. It is one of the important birthplaces of Chinese civilization and the center of world classical civilization. It was the largest city in the world during the Ming Dynasty and has long been the political, economic and cultural center of southern China Nanjing is the most famous ancient capital of the Six Dynasties in ancient China. It was also the capital of the Republic of China. It has more than 7,000 years of civilization, 3,000 years of city building, and more

than 500 years of capital building. The China Qinhuai Lantern Festival is a folk cultural activity popular in the ancient capital of Nanjing. It is also the oldest Spring Festival Lantern Festival in China. It is also known as the Jinling Lantern Festival and the Confucius Temple Lantern Festival. It is a national intangible cultural heritage, with "The First Lantern Festival in the World" and "Qinhuai Lantern Festival". Known as "World", it is the only large-scale comprehensive lantern fair in China that integrates lantern exhibitions, lantern festivals

and lantern markets. It is also the longest-lasting, largest-scale folk lantern festival in China with the largest number of participants. The history of the Qinhuai Lantern Festival can be traced back to the Southern Dynasties. The custom of holding the traditional Lantern Festival Lantern Festival appeared in the capital Jiankang (Nanjing). Its grand event is the highest in the country and it is the earliest lantern festival in China. It developed rapidly in the Tang Dynasty and reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty. Nanjing was the ancient capital of

six dynasties and the city of ten dynasties. As an important folk activity, the Qinhuai Lantern Festival has always been a social and cultural event for people of all ages to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, pray for good luck, and be festive and lively Qinhuai culture is the representative of the ancient Jinling civilization, and the Qinhuai Lantern Festival is an important carrier of inheriting the excellent traditional culture of Qinhuai. Laomendong Historic District ~ Located to the east of Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing, it is a national

5A-level scenic spot and was once a gathering place for Nanjing’s traditional residences. Since ancient times, it has been a place where merchants from the south of the Yangtze River gathered, where humanities gathered, and where aristocratic families lived. During the Ming Dynasty, it became the city's economic center and an important distribution center for commerce and handicrafts. It was historically the most developed area in Nanjing, presenting a prosperous scene. Now after comprehensive renovation, it has become a cultural district integrating

century-old shops, history and culture, leisure and entertainment, and tourist attractions, allowing people to re-experience the charm of Nanjing's old city. The New Year Lantern Festival during the Chinese Spring Festival every year attracts tourists from all over the world, and this year’s Year of the Snake Lantern Festival is equally amazing!

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