Shanghai Events and Festivals

Chinese New Year (Spring Festival): is celebrated either at the end of January or at the beginning of February on the first day of the first moon according to the lunar calendar. Droves of Chinese head to Shanghai for two weeks of festivities. During New Year festivities, you will find every house lavishly decorated and locals go to meet family and friends in town. All hotels and restaurants are likely to be fully booked during the celebrations.

Lantern Festival: is celebrated towards the end of the New Year festivities. Locals hang coloured lanterns outside their houses and on the front of many buildings. Candles are lit creating beautiful patterns at night throughout the city. Yuanxiao (sticky rice dumplings) are traditionally eaten.

Kuan Yin's Birthday: the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy is remembered on this day as locals of the city meet to pray at temples. Adults hoping to conceive offer gifts and prayers to Kuan Yin in the hope that they will be blessed with children.

Tomb Sweeping Day: is also known as the Ching Ming Festival and is a day to remember the dead. Graves are routinely cleaned and offerings of food and flowers are made. Burning of paper money is common as it is believed the deceased can use this money in their next life.

Longhua Temple Fair: Longhua Park is famous for its ancient temple, which plays host to the largest local festival. Stalls are set up around the temple and thousands of people can be seen buying, selling and bargaining. You will find an abundance of Chinese food and crafts.

Dragon Boat Festival: this is the third-largest festival in China. The world-famous sport of dragon boat racing has gained in popularity over recent years and could even be included in the 2008 Olympics. The sport began in China over 2,000 years ago, and this festival sees teams competing against one another in traditional boats, rowing to the beat of a drum.

Shanghai Tourist Festival: this annual festival offers a wide range of entertainment at venues across the city including colourful floats and street parades. There are also markets, a folklore tour of Shanghai lanes, a Chinese festival at Yu Garden and a musical fireworks festival in Century Park.

Moon Festival: is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival and is a festival based on folklore and stories. Families get together and older generations recite the ancient moon story to the younger ones and celebrate with dancing, the lighting of candles and the eating traditional moon cakes.