The 30-year evolution of Yuyuan’s lantern show
Print Edition
OF all the photo ops a UK Prime Minister could stage in Shanghai, Keir Starmer chose… pastry. Butterfly pastry, to be precise... box in hand, smile locked, snapped mid-purchase at Lu Bo Lang in Yuyuan Garden Malls. No handshakes, no trade summits, just carbs and charm in the heart of Old Town. A cheerful choice to be sure.
Just a few steps past the pastries, Starmer found himself face to face with a herd of glowing horses mid-sprint — the show-stopping lantern installation titled “Six Steeds in Full Gallop, Blossoms Born of Wonder.” Massive, luminous and galloping straight into metaphor, it was the centerpiece flex of this year’s zodiac: the Horse.
The PM lingered. Someone from his team leaned in with a soft cultural download: “In Chinese tradition, the horse is all about luck, drive and leading the pack.” Cue the polite diplomatic nodding, cameras clicking, and at least one internal monologue wondering if he was now cosmically blessed to win a by-election.
Just when he thought it was all dumplings and diplomacy, Starmer got gifted a custom lantern — not the kind you hang on your porch, but a full-blown illuminated art piece by the students at Donghua University.
Handcrafted and glowing with international sentiment, the lantern mashed up the UK’s greatest hits — red double-decker, Battersea Power Station, that very cinematic viaduct from Harry Potter land and the surreal geometry of Giant’s Causeway — all strung together with a luminous ribbon symbolizing the Huangpu River and the Thames in one glowing metaphor of cross-cultural flow.
Like clockwork (and firecracker), Shanghai’s annual migration toward the glowing belly of Yuyuan kicks off every Spring Festival. The Yuyuan lantern show is less an event and more a seasonal phenomenon ... one of those rare things that makes the city pause and say, “Whoa.”
The 2026 edition officially flipped the switch on January 26 and will keep shining through March 3. What used to be a tightly packed, selfie-thirsty light show inside Yuyuan Garden Malls has now spilled across six full-blown lantern zones, stretching from the old-school charm of Fangbang Rd M. to the riverside gloss of the Bund. The glow now covers the entire Yuyuan Garden commercial area like a warm neon blanket, or maybe like a mythical creature with six heads and zero chill.
People come for the lights, but most don’t ask where they came from.
The Yuyuan lantern show isn’t new. It didn’t start with social media or zodiac merch. This thing has roots deep in the city. Lantern culture in Shanghai goes back to the Han Dynasty. Yuyuan’s version is the oldest in town. Also the loudest. It’s been the main event for a long time. Still is.
Back in 1994, Yuyuan got a facelift. Seven new buildings went up in full Ming and Qing drag, along with a spread of throwback market lanes. The whole thing was built to blend, and mostly it worked. Looked old, felt new, sold snacks.
By 1995, it was official — one of the top landmarks of the decade.
The whole scene around Chenghuang Temple has been packed since the late Qing Dynasty. That’s when “going to the temple” became less about prayers and more about snacks, lanterns, and crowds. For many locals, that ritual never left.
The modern era also kicked off in 1995. That year, Yuyuan went all in with its first proper lantern show.
The centerpiece was a giant glowing pig. No metaphors, no explanation. Just a massive zodiac animal parked in the middle of the mall, drawing crowds from across the city. It worked. Since then, Yuyuan and lanterns have been locked in for life.
By 2011, the festival had a new title: national intangible cultural heritage. The kind of phrase that sounds like a museum plaque, but basically means it’s official now. The craft behind it hasn’t changed much. Bamboo skeletons, silk skin, tied and painted by hand. Old stories turned into light.
Since 1995, the lantern show’s been a yearly thing. Back then, it ran from the first to the fifteenth day of the lunar new year, right on schedule with the Spring Festival calendar.
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