A lantern installation sparks in the fair.

The 2025 lantern fair at Guangzhou Cultural Park, themed "The City of Ram: Thriving with New Vitality", will light up the nights from Feb 11 to 13.  

As the grand finale of the spring flower fair, this year's lantern fair will showcase exquisite craftsmanship and rich cultural traditions, ingeniously blending lantern art with floral displays. The radiant interplay of festive blooms and glowing lanterns will allow visitors to experience the most authentic and down-to-earth charm of a Lingnan-style Lantern Festival.  

The most eye-catching lantern display at this year's Lantern Festival is the "Yue Chang Yue Hao" located in the Central Square. Inspired by Cantonese opera, the display features an elaborate opera crown lantern adorned with over 500 intricately connected glowing spheres.  

With more than 220 flickering light sources, it creates a grand and classical ambiance. On stage, traditional opera characters like Sheng (male lead), Dan (female lead), Jing (painted-face roles), and Chou (clown) shine brightly, showcasing the charm of Lingnan culture in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

At the southwest square, the lantern display titled "Sparkling GBA, A Blossoming Paradise" is a creative highlight. Inspired by the architecture and landscapes of the GBA cities, it uniquely takes the shape of a vase that is colorfully painted with the iconic landmarks of Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macao.  

Adorned with lanterns shaped like kapok (Guangzhou's city flower), bauhinia (Hong Kong's symbol), and lotus (Macao's representative flower) on top, it symbolizes that in the new year, the GBA will bloom like flowers and embrace a prosperous future.

A defining feature of the festival is its seamless integration of flowers and lanterns, offering visitors the experience of admiring flowers during the day and lanterns at night. Along the park's central axis, visitors can admire handcrafted floral sculptures, including a miniature Canton Tower made of kumquat trees and replicas of the Ruins of St. Paul's in Macao—all crafted with traditional floral arrangement techniques. A breathtaking rainbow bridge installation, crafted from petunias and outlined by flexible tube lights, adds to the enchanting display.

The lanterns cleverly incorporate traditional Chinese cultural elements symbolizing good luck and joy. For instance, the main entrance archway features a "Hundred Blessings Gate" adorned with over a hundred unique variations of the Chinese character for "fortune", along with over a dozen other festive motifs including images of the God of Wealth, lettuce (prosperity), peanuts (blessing), and koi fish (success). During the traditional lantern festival, animations and sounds are a must.  

Take the central axis and the Xiguan Garden lantern displays as examples: magpies and cranes, with their wings fluttering gracefully, bring a great deal of dynamism to the event.    

During the Lantern Festival, Guangzhou Cultural Park will also host various cultural activities under the theme "The City of Ram: Thriving with New Vitality". Visitors can enjoy traditional performances, guess lantern riddles, appreciate calligraphy and painting exhibitions, and explore the art of Chinese chess, providing an immersive cultural feast for citizens during the Lantern Festival.