Photo: Chen Xia/GT

The iconic Yuyuan Lantern Festival has opened in Shanghai, celebrating the upcoming Year of the Horse by blending centuries-old intangible cultural heritage (ICH) with cutting-edge digital technology and expanding beyond its traditional boundaries, according to organizers.

The 36-day event at the major tourism destination features a diverse collection of lanterns that take the Chinese zodiac animals as its theme. Now in its 31st edition, the show was inscribed on the China's ICH list in 2011.

For the first time, the festival spans six interconnected areas - Yuyuan Garden, the Bund ­Financial Center, Gucheng Park, Fangbang Middle Road, Fuyou Road and the Bund.

This year's theme follows a "history-modernity-future" narrative, guiding visitors through immersive scenes that combine ICH craft, digital light installations and contemporary art. 

One of the highlights is a three-story-high revolving lantern. Built with a traditional mortise-and-tenon wooden structure, the lantern integrates digital projection technology. Six painted panels depicting classic Spring Festival customs rotate in a continuous loop, animating age-old festival stories through shifting light and shadow.

In addition to the lantern, three themed sequences of galloping horse figures run along the rooflines. The "historical and cultural" section features six horses inspired by different Chinese dynasties, interwoven with symbolic motifs drawn from traditional Spring Festival rituals. This is followed by a "future technology" segment, where horses formed from pixel-like blocks evoke a digital, science-fiction aesthetic. The final "modern trend" segment presents playful horse spirits representing contemporary personalities, from a calm observer and an energetic "fortune horse" to a music-loving dreamer and an adventurous risk-taker.

The festival's visual climax unfolds each evening in the central square with the lighting of the main lantern installation. Created for the Year of the Horse, the centerpiece draws inspirations from the famed "Six Steeds of the Zhao Mausoleum." As the lights come on, animated blossoms appear to bloom beneath the horses' hooves, creating the illusion of flowers spreading with every stride.

Technology plays a central role throughout the event. At the historical Jiuqu (Zigzag) Bridge, scheduled digital light shows combine the ancient Chinese "Twenty-Eight Mansions" constellation system with the Shanhaijing, or The Classic of Mountains and Seas, a major source of Chinese mythology that dates back more than 2,000 years. 

The show also features dance performances, parades showcasing ICH, markets, puzzles and games.

Visitors can also access AI-powered features through their smartphones, including an intelligent virtual guide, interactive digital riddles, AI-assisted photography and VR experiences that simulate journeys through classical mythological worlds. 

As a key cultural highlight in Shanghai during the Spring Festival celebration, the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival debuted at the amusement park Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris in 2024.

Shanghai has long been a favored destination for overseas visitors, with the Yuyuan Lantern Festival standing out as one of its most distinctive cultural symbols, Bu Xiting, an associate researcher with the School of Cultural Industries Management at the Communication University of China, told the Global Times on Monday, adding that "a fusion of ICH and digital technology at the iconic festival is expected to enhance the city's global visibility and appeal."

The festival offers international visitors an immersive gateway into traditional Chinese culture, one that is both perceptible and participatory. Through creative storytelling such as AR-guided narratives, living displays of ICH craftsmanship, abstract cultural symbols are transformed into direct emotional experiences that foster cultural connection, added Bu.

For example, the AR reimagining of mythical creatures from The Classic of Mountains and Seas not only showcases the richness of Chinese mythology, but also uses technology to help visitors understand cultural meaning through interaction, noted Bu.