Int'l dinosaur lantern show opens in Southwest China

CHENGDU - The 26th International Dinosaur Lantern Show opened Friday night in the city of Zigong, Southwest China's Sichuan province.

Covering more than 33 hectares, the show, running until mid-March, consists of nine parts with themes including the Belt and Road, Chinese lanterns and dream river. Sets of huge dinosaur lanterns are also displayed at the show.

"The lantern show has become the symbol of Zigong, and we will work to make it a calling card of Chinese culture," said Fan Bo, secretary of Zigong's municipal committee of the Communist Party of China.

The history of lantern shows in Zigong can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties, which have now developed into a cultural activity with performances and night markets. More than 2 million people visit different lantern shows in the city every year.

So far, Zigong has held lantern shows in more than 500 Chinese cities and over 70 countries and regions around the world, attracting a total of over 400 million visitors.

Zigong is home to the Jurassic period site Dashanpu, where workers building a parking lot unearthed a large number of dinosaur fossils in 1979.