Dragon Lantern Festival in Taijiang

This festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Taijiang, near Kaili, where the entertainment takes on a unique flavour. From the period of the 2nd to 15th of the first lunar month, several groups in Taijiang make large paper dragons that are manipulated by 10 to 15 men. Children are given straw dragons.

On the 14th and the 15th night they weave through the streets, stopping at different households. Each householder gives them money and liquor to ensure good luck for the family during the coming year; the paper dragon can't enter. It is said that the straw dragons are more important than the paper ones since the straw ones are native. The main street is filled with giant homemade fireworks made from bamboo and packed with gunpowder. These are lit and the flames directed at the dragons. The centre of the activities is outside the local government building where all the dragons come to receive money. Often there are as many as 30 to 35 dragons to destroy. The excitement continues until midnight with the unmarried ending the festival by singing love songs to each other.