By Alexandria Kenney, AsAmNews Intern
Lanterns, food, and traditional Chinese handmade crafts.
For ten years, Tianyu Arts and Culture has sought to bring these elements of Chinese heritage to cities around the U.S. September 17 marked the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional East Asian holiday, which includes lantern festivals in the Chinese iteration of the celebration.
AsAmNews spoke with Jessie Lee and Fan Zhang from Tianyu’s Business Development Department about the festivals, their history and what they mean for Asian Americans.
The Tianyu lantern festivals began as a celebration for Lunar New Year in China’s Sichuan Province in 1997 before expanding to Spokane, Washington, in 2015. The festivals’ repertoire slowly grew to include other U.S. cities, such as Louisville, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, and Tianyu is now North America’s largest lantern festival host.
From a business perspective, Zhang noted that Tianyu is able to provide consistent, timely events due to its near-full control over innovation and supply. Lee said Tianyu also holds special shows to commemorate major holidays like the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival, particularly in culturally diverse cities.
The company, whose mission is to “spread happiness,” according to Zhang, has established a long tradition in cities like Cary, North Carolina, where it has held the festival for ten years.
“For Asians who live in the cities where we have the festival … this festival can bring some home feelings to them when they visit,” Lee said. “For people who were born here, it’s a good way for them to see some culture that originates where their parents were coming from, or older generations come from.”
Tianyu often partners with parks or zoos for space, working on a given show for one month on site, not including the preparatory work of handcrafting lanterns — which can only be completed by trusted, veteran artisans in the company’s Chinese or American warehouses.
As part of Tianyu’s collaboration with its venues, it also uses intricate animal-shaped lanterns to bring attention to endangered and extinct species, according to a company blog. The festival itself, depending on the size of the venue, can be a walking tour of up to 1.5 miles, with whimsical, oversized lanterns overseeing the path.
Visitors seem to enjoy the festival, with one Instagram commenter writing under a Tianyu post that the company’s festivals are her “favorite part of (summer) nights in Philly.” But a decade of establishment in the U.S. also comes with a need for the festival to constantly outdo itself, especially as many patrons make it an annual habit to visit their local festival.
“We need to keep the festival attractive and exciting,” Lee said. “In those festivals, we always bring new creations that we had for the year, like some movements, some color changing, lighting, sound, anything.”
Among this year’s new lineup of cities are New York, Dallas, San Antonio, St. Louis, Tampa, and Salt Lake City.
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