The 2026 Greater Bay Area Lantern Carnival (2026年粤港澳大湾区灯会), a marquee Chinese New Year event, is set to open on Feb 10 at Guangzhou’s Nansha Bay area for a 90-day run until May 10, officials announced at a press conference Tuesday.
Organized by the Nansha district government, the lantern festival aims to enhance the Spring Festival celebrations alongside flower fairs and intangible cultural heritage activities in Guangzhou.
Building on the success of the inaugural 2025 carnival, which attracted over 710,000 visitors and garnered nearly 4 billion online impressions, this year’s edition expands in scale. The 532-square-meter exhibition area will feature a 2.5-kilometer main route, over 100 sets of large lantern displays, and nearly 1,000 live performances.
The carnival is divided into five thematic zones.
The “Galloping Stars, Steed Soaring” zone adopts a cyberpunk aesthetic to portray the spirit of the Year of the Horse, symbolizing the Greater Bay Area’s dynamic progress.
The “Ecological Symphony” zone uses light to highlight the region’s green achievements, illuminating mangroves and Chinese white dolphins.
The “Digital Future” zone showcases AI and deep-sea exploration-themed installations, alongside a “Youth Innovation Lantern Corridor” featuring designs by the youth. For cultural immersion, the “Millennial Dream, Living Traditions” zone recreates a living historical block with intangible cultural heritage displays, performances, and time-honored foods from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao.
The “Common Roots, GBA Harmony” zone nostalgically recreates Hong Kong and Macao street scenes with light, accompanied by classic Canto-pop songs.
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In a collaborative effort across the region, 11 outstanding designs from over 3,000 entries in a cross-border youth design campaign will be produced into physical lanterns.
The carnival will also integrate popular anime, comics and games IPs like “Honor of Kings” and “JX3,” and host events like the “China-Kazakhstan Music Festival” and the “Pearl River Spring Festival Gala.”
This article is translated by China Daily from the original report in Chinese as published on the official website of Nanfang+.
