According to traditional custom, today is the Chinese lantern festival! It’s a day when they light the paper lanterns and send them up as symbols of hopes and dreams for the future. A beautiful tradition!
Always on the first full moon of the new lunar year.
Lanterns are available for about ￥5, and come in many colors! Mine was red 🙂
Lights are shining!
Fireworks blasting!
Happy Lantern Festival!
They closed off the site before we could see any more of the progress; however, we do know that they have uncovered about 40 tombs so far. There are estimated to be at least 200 more not yet excavated. They have been finding random odds and ends in the graves, including pottery and some gold jewelry. It is believed that this was the burial ground for the village, so it is a mixture of lovely graves and less up-kept ones. At least some date back to the 3rd Century B.C.E., around the late Warring States Kingdom of Han. Right now, the government has closed the area off to students and visitors, and they will be monitoring the progress. Xinzheng is the “Birthplace” of China because Emperor Huangdi was born here. It was the central-point for several dynastic governments, and there is a lot of history here. It will be fascinating to see what they uncover!
The Cultured Muse 