The Lantern Festival takes place 15 days after the start of Chinese New Year and marks the end of the New Year celebrations.

There are many stories about how the festival first began.

Some people believe that a young girl who worked for Emperor Ming Huang tricked the Emperor into having a great festival so she could go and visit her family. The Emperor enjoyed the festival so much tht he made it a yearly event. He built 30 huge lantern towers in the shape of different animals like the tiger, leopard and dragon.

The festival is also thought to have been started to celebrate the start of the better weather after the cold and dark days of winter.

Another belief is that the lanterns were able to guide spirits back to the spirit world.

Today peple hang lanterns everywhere to light the way to a brighter future.