Christchurch Lantern Festival Drawn 130,000 Crowd

The 6th annual Christchurch Chinese lantern festival organised by AsiaNZ foundation held in Victoria square on 6th and 7th March have drawn Christchurch attention, more than 70 groups have participate in this event. This is the sixth time that International Buddhist Association (IBA) and Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) participated in this community event. This year BLIA and IBA hosting 2 Buddhism hand craft stall, 3 food stalls and a Chinese Tea Garden. Venerable Miao Yu leaded 70 BLIA members and volunteers to unload, set up and operating in these stalls. Venerable Abbess Manshin and venerable Jue Xi have visited the festival and cheer up the volunteers; this encouraged the volunteer and serves the crowd for the best service.

This year, the organiser had gain permission to shut down partial of Colombo Street to expand extra space for the food stalls, giving more room to large crowds. There were a large variety of cultural gourmet stalls, including the very popular fried dumplings, laksa, tofu, and fried noodles prepared by BLIA and IBA attracts most of the visitor appetite. Meanwhile, the Buddhism craft stall’s craft like lion dance puppet, waving drum, campanula, and lotus light also received a lot of attention from children and parents. With the demonstration done by BLIA vice president Jack Liu and YAD member attracted the visitor and boost up the craft sells as well.

The Chinese Tea Garden is provided with a place to stop and rest. They can have a good look on fountain and lanterns that decorated on Avon river bank with a nice cup of tea and snacks. The AsiaNZ organizers suggested that IBA and BLIA food stalls have shown the remarkable work order of the organisation workers were very organized, and its service hygiene were to the highest standard.
When night fall, visitor enjoyed various unique Chinese lantern design and light display in the Victoria Square. Some of displays actually remind the heart of the oversea students and visitors; they actually not far apart from home. The organizers used this opportunity to show the residents the traditional Chinese lanterns, and the New Year’s art and cultural features. According to statistics, over 130000 people attended the festival over the two nights.