A bird's eye view of a grand Banlong performance taking place in Yunhe county. [Photo by Lyu Zhouliang/WeChat account: tonghuayunhe]

A Banlong performance is scheduled to be held on Feb 3-5 in Yunhe county – administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province – to celebrate the Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the first lunar month.

Villagers in Fenghuangshan sub-district and in Chongtou town in Yunhe are busy making Banlong – a huge dragon-shaped lantern – these days.

The creation of a Banlong lantern integrates calligraphy, painting, paper-cutting and other folk arts as well as bamboo banding, weaving and pasting techniques.

The creation of a Banlong lantern integrates bamboo banding, weaving and pasting techniques. [Photo by Pan Tingcong/WeChat account: tonghuayunhe]

The Banlong performance in the first lunar month is a traditional custom of Yunhe, which dates back to the late Yuan (1271-1368) and early Ming (1368-1644) dynasties.

Legend has it that in the late Yuan Dynasty, a girl surnamed Liu was immortalized as the Mother of Dragon because she swallowed a dragon egg. In order to prevent fire, Yunhe's people prayed for the Mother of Dragon to tame the fire god and so the custom of the dragon lantern dance in the first lunar month gradually formed.

The Banlong performance – integrating dance, sports, acrobatics, folk music and other forms of artistic expression – nowadays aims to pray for good fortune and a peaceful life.

The Banlong performance is one of the cultural symbols of Yunhe county. [Photo by Liu Haibo/WeChat account: tonghuayunhe]