In Photos: Lost in a small town lantern celebration – NuanQuan, Yuxian

Getting to Yuxian

After driving along 250km of 6-lane expressways, Google Maps offered us a scenic short-cut to the small town of NuanQuan.

I think we may have pursued it a little too far before giving up and returning to the highway:

Yuxian Shortcut

Meeting the first resident of Yuxian:

Lost in Yuxian

The light in the countryside around Yuxian is always golden, as though it’s the 5pm magic photography hour all day. Of course, it could be due to pollution from all the nearby coal mines…

NuanQuan Village

Nuanquan is in the western part of Yu County. As the river never freezes during the winter, and steam rises above the spring the town was named Warm Spring, or NuanQuan. With architecture dating back to 916AD it’s the only Chinese Historical and Cultural Town in HeBei Province.

Lanterns in NuanQuan - the residents are renowned for their enthusiasm for hanging lanterns. Nearly every building was festooned with them.

NuanQuan Food Market - note the kids coming to check out the foreigner

Foreigners seem quite rare here, so whole families stop in the street to stare, point and shout. It’s understandable all the way out here, and initially amusing, but does wear thin after a three days of constant attention.

Xi Gubu Fortress

Xi Gubu castle in NuanQuan Town, with over 210 courtyards is the best preserved fortress in Yu County:

Xi Gubu Fortress

View from the Xi Gubu temple

Xi Gubu Courtyards

By now the wind had got up and it was -15C outside.

Yuxian Lantern Festival

Back at the market the celebrations had begun:

Dragon Dance before the Lantern Festival

DaShuHua Molten Fireworks: throwing molten iron at a frozen city wall

More on the DaShuHua molten metal fireworks.

Driving Home

Being just a couple of days after the Chinese New Year, the roads on the way back were still utterly empty – a rare sight heading towards a city of 20 million people. Those few people we did see had tied red ribbons all over their car and could barely see out…

Empty roads all the way back to Beijing

Hopefully related posts:

DaShuHua Molten Metal Fireworks – Yu County Lantern Festival, NuanQuan Mythology at the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival – Longtan Park, Beijing Chun Yun migration – the largest annual movement of people on earth – China In Photos: Icheri Sheher – Baku Old Town in Azerbaijan